A Freedom Chained
by Willow26
Summary: COMPLETE! AU of X1. A murder? A mutant clapped in chains? A SeaWorld exhibition? A suicidal fish? The Xmen mansion is about to be turned upside down. Freedom is both a dream and a goal.
1. Prologue: Deadly Still

Disclaimer: The X-men are property of Twentieth Century Fox and the Marvel Entertainment Group. I am using their characters for my own un-profitable enjoyment. Anything that you do not recognise is my own.

Authors Note: Well this is the start of a new story. It is the first part in a trilogy that will follow the plot line of the three films, with my own personal input. I hope you like it.

Happy reading.

**Prologue: Deadly Still**

The night was dark and the sky a deep pitch. The stars were obscured from all who gazed upon them and the moon was new and did not grace the sky with her presence. It was if a great cloak had been hung upon the heavens veiling all from view. Large clouds swum across the sky, billowing and fighting for dominance against one another. They brought with them a dampness that hung in the air, and the musty smell of thunder. The cool air was clammy and stifling, with the faint smell of salt, the wind that blew the clouds did not touch the earth and the air was still. Deadly still. The only sound was the gentle lapping of the water, as it came into contact with the docking points.

The Dockyard had been abandoned years before and now it reeked of the invading seaweed and mould. Wooden crates were stacked at the side of alleyways teetering precariously on top of one another. Their holdings long rotted and forgotten about. The ground was littered with old fishing nets and buoys, in the dark shadows cats slunk with their backs raised. The old streetlamps had fallen into disrepair and the light they gave out spluttered and spat in protest.

It was in this desolate place that the near silence was broken by the sound of heavy footfalls. A man was running though these dank alleyways, his feet slapping on the uneven ground. Occasionally he passed close to the water and the stone ground changed to wood and he would slip on the green slime before gaining his balance. As soon as he was upright again he would sprint off, constantly looking over his shoulder.

He ignored the cats that hissed and spat at him as he disturbed their hiding places, and he shied away from the rats that habited the crates. Their long whiskers and naked tails sent him shivering, and he almost smiled as he heard one losing a battle with a cat. A mangy dog in the distance slunk away from him, back into the shadows yet all of this came second in his thoughts.

As he ran he mumbled to himself and his hands flashed in complex patterns, after each pattern was finished a set of chains appeared. He shook his head and threw them aside before starting again. A trail of chains and cuffs lagged behind him, none coming up to his expectations. He turned a corner and threw another chain behind him and slowed his frantic running for a second. He started up again as soon as his ears picked up the sounds of his pursuer.

Two hours he had been running, two hours he had been chased through cobbled roads and winding alleyways and now he was at the dockyards and still he was being followed. His hands grew more and more frantic, yet the faster his hands moved the slower his legs did. His chest was heaving and he did not think he could run any longer. He ran back out into the open again and stumbled as his foot caught on a broken fishing net. He fell to the floor and landed inches from the water's edge, as he tried to pick himself up again his ears picked up nothing, he could not hear another set of footfalls. Thanking what ever lord was above him he heaved himself to his knees and leant forward taking in huge shuddering breaths. Oxygen filled his lungs and his muscles burned where they had been forced to work without it.

A force slammed into his side sending him tumbling to the ground again. He opened his eyes and looked at his pursuer, the darkness shielded its features but he saw the gleaming white teeth of a predatory smile and gulped. He tried to fight off the weight that was on his stomach, yet his muscles were too tired, another chain appeared in his hands and was thrown aside by the person on top of him.

"You have ripped my freedom from me. Now I shall take yours." The person on top of him said before rolling him into the water.

Once under he tried to swim away, yet a weight landed on his back pushing him under. Twisting round so he could see the surface, he struggled desperately to reach it before the small amount of oxygen in his lungs gave out. He made one last futile attempt to shake his attacker off before he felt himself drifting downwards. The light faded from his eyes and bubbles rose from his slack jaw. Death beckoned him.


	2. Vacation

Disclaimer: The X-men are property of Twentieth Century Fox and the Marvel Entertainment Group. I am using their characters for my own un-profitable enjoyment. Anything that you do not recognise is my own.

Authors Note: Well here is the first proper chapter of my story. Most of it is from the view of Charles Xavier. Anyone else deciding that it's a tad too hot? I'm roasting!

**Chapter 1: Vacation**

Silence.

Not something that is often heard in a school, let alone a boarding school. Yet for once that word rang true, all the students were sleeping, even the ones that had been too excited the night before. Not a single sound could be heard and the one person awake revelled in it.

Charles Xavier sat in his office sipping on a cup of coffee he liked these few hours of peace before the morning fully started and the first of the students alarms went off. Today was a special day though and in a few hours there would be even more noise in the mansion than usual. Today they were going on vacation.

The front entrance hall was filled with bags and suitcases of all shapes and sizes, and the professor seriously wondered why such small people needed so much stuff. He, himself, only had a moderately sized holdall next to him, more than enough for a weeks living. Still they did not leave the mansion very often, it was hard with so many mutants incase they brought too much attention to themselves. Children were excitable enough as it is, let alone if some had potentially lethal mutant abilities as well. One flayed temper and they could all go up in smoke. He predicted that he would spend the next week acting as a mediator rather than a teacher.

He sighed and ran a mental list to check that he had everything; he pulled his holdall up onto his lap and wheeled himself into the kitchen to wash up his coffee mug. Just as he was turning the tap off the dreaded sound rang through the halls. The alarm clock.

The silence was shattered as students woke up and dressed quickly in the clothes they had all been told to leave out the day before. There were the usual squabbles for the showers and bath rooms and the yelling about who took someone's socks, yet today it was at a higher pitch. A light thump brought his attention away from the sink and towards the fridge, where a teenage girl was standing.

"Good morning Kitty."

"Oh, sorry professor. I didn't see you there." Kitty said looking guilty.

"You know what I think about you moving through the floor like that. You could land on anybody." The professor said with only a hint of a scolding tone.

"Sorry Professor."

"Don't worry, go and find Professor Munroe and see about organising breakfast."

Then Xavier handed Kitty the, now, clean mug and smiled as she placed it on the rack before walking through the door in search of the white haired teacher. He picked up the paper that was left in the entrance hall and went to his usual spot on the large table and started reading.

He was disturbed before too long by a dark skinned woman coming through the door. He did not look up from his paper as he offered a mental greeting to the lady. He nodded when he received a verbal one back; his mind was engrossed in the second page headlines about mutant registration. He prayed that it would not come to that; luckily it was only in its preliminary thought stages at the moment and would take a few years before it could be enforced. Still it was something to think about.

"And what has you so absorbed this morning Professor?" Storm asked placing a bowl of cereal in front of him.

He smiled up at her before handing her the paper and taking up his spoon. Pouring a small amount of sugar onto his cornflakes he started eating, watching and greeting every student that walked through the door. All looked awake and very alert, which was a surprise considering it was just passed seven in the morning, on a normal day he would be hard pressed to keep them awake. Although this was no normal day. Voiced greetings were sent around as Jean Grey and Scott Summers walked in and took their seats. Jean levitated the many boxes of cereal to the table and they were being grabbed almost before they hit the wooden surface. All the unopened boxes were grabbed first as everyone dived for the toys, including Scott, the professor noticed smiling.

The usual chatter filled the table, except today it was filled with the possibility of the adventures they were going to have and what they were going to see on their vacation.

A deafening shriek was let loose as a young mutant was covered in cereal mulch as her friend had tried to levitate her spoon to her mouth and lost control. All covered their ears as Siryn's scream threatened to break their ear drums. Eventually she stopped and looked around the table before glaring at her friend and the offending spoon.

Charles decided now was the best time to give his 'before vacation talk' to the children. He pushed away his own cereal bowl and cleared his throat to get the attention of his students.

"You may continue eating, but I just want to talk to you. This is the first time that we are going on a school vacation and there are a few rules I want to make." Groans filled the room, and he smiled. "Firstly you will not tell anyone that you are a mutant or you are with a mutant. Secondly do not use your mutant powers in the vicinity of others unless it is an emergency." He stared around the room and watched the faces in front of him, all looked sincere so far, yet he knew what hormonal mutants were like. Thirdly, behave well and be polite, and lastly have fun."

"Professor, where exactly are we going?" A teenage boy asked, his short blonde hair spiked up and his frozen blue eyes excited.

"Oh did I not tell you?" He said feigning disbelief for the younger ones. "We are going to Florida; Busch Gardens and Sea World await us."

Excited whispers filled the table and another spoon full of cereal threatened to go flying as the young mutant took her attention away from her breakfast again. Luckily Jean saw the spoon and snatched it out of the air with her own telekinesis before it could do any more damage. A swift glare at the girl put her in her place and she picked up her spoon sheepishly with her hand and started to eat conventionally.

"Jackie so nice of you to volunteer with the washing up." Jean said looking at the girl who had suddenly found the mulch in her bowl very interesting.

"Yes Miss Grey." She said her cheeks flaming.

OOOOOO

Once all the dishes had been cleaned and the table wiped, the students had been left to their own devices for a couple of hours. The bus would not arrive until ten to take them to the airport and so they had some time to kill. They had been told though not to touch the bags in the hall as there would not be time to re pack things. The only exception to this was Siryn who needed to get changed after having cereal thrown over her. So finally things were organised and the X-men had a few hours to themselves before their travels started. It was at this time that the Professor called them into his study.

He had gotten changed himself and the X-men stared at the garish shirt he was now wearing. Little palm trees covered it in a pattern that made your eyes go funny and it was rather hard to focus on. Still it made a change from his usual suit, and they were going on vacation after all.

"Now I wanted to talk to you before we all left, also there is little chance of the students over hearing us now. They are far too excited to care about what we are talking about." The Professor said, wheeling himself out from behind his desk.

"There is a reason why I wanted to go to Orlando specifically, and it is not because of the attractions. I have been following a young mutant with Cerebro. Her brain patterns are very interesting and are similar to what yours were Jean when you were younger." The Professor continued.

"Mine Professor?" Jean said cocking her red head curiously.

"Yes, I do not know if she has the same mutant powers as you, as she appears to know I have been following her and can block her self to my powers. I cannot say exactly what her mutation is, yet she seems to have a good control over her mind. What worries me the most is that she appears to reside actually in Sea World and only ventures outside the park at night time. I am curious as to who she is, and she is our main target. I want to see if we can bring her back here, if she is willing of course."

The X-men looked at each other and nodded their heads in consent at the idea. Scott turned to Charles and focused his eyes just to the left of him so that he would not be dazzled by the shirt.

"Is there anything else you know about her Professor that can help us locate her?" He said.

The Professor shook his head in resignation. "I am sorry; I cannot even tell you what she looks like for she blocks me whenever I get too close. All I know is that it is definitely a 'she' and she resides in Sea World. I have an inkling that her nightly excursions might have something to do with the sudden theft of some of their orcas though."

"Good, no problem, so we are looking for a mutant that steals Orca's. No problem Professor." Storm said with humour in her voice.

"Good, good. Now I think the bus should arrive soon and the bags will need to be packed. I believe Piotr would be the best candidate for helping." Charles said instantly sending out a mental thought to the Russian boy asking for help.

OOOOOO

A sigh of relief passed the lips of the psychic man as he settled into his seat on the large aeroplane. Finally they were off and there had been no major mishaps in the airport, with the exception of one of the younger mutants sticking his bright blue, tongue out at a woman who had claimed he was rude for not moving out of the way. The Professor, for once, agreed with Jack, the boy, the women really was taking up far too much room in the queue and did not need any more. Yet he had placated her and with a reproving look at Jack had sent him to Storm to look after. The blue tongue had been blamed on a lollypop which some of his friends had been eating. Still, all the offending lolly's had been binned after the women complained loudly that they could make good, honourable children look like mutants. The Professor had seen John flick open his lighter at that point, but a sharp glare had made him shut it with a 'click'.

But all that could now be forgotten as the plane made its distinctive squealing noise before going down the runway. He swallowed a couple of times to relieve the pressure in his head as they took off, once they were air borne he quickly scanned the children mentally to check they were all ok. Once sure they were all safe and unlikely to cause trouble anytime soon he turned to Jean and picked up the in-flight magazine.

On the front page there was an advertisement for Sea World and its latest attraction. He decided this was the best place to start reading and flipped to the relevant page. Once there he stared at the page in a mixture of horror and disbelief.

"What's wrong Professor?" Jean asked seeing his expression.

"I think we've found our mutant." He said handing her the magazine.

There on the middle page was an article about their latest attraction. Staring out of the page at them was a photo of a girl with her face pressed against the glass of a tank. Her skin was blue and glowing and her green hair was caught in an invisible current. Yellow fish like eyes stared back, taunting them whilst a set of gills appeared to be emitting small bubbles from her neck.


	3. A Human Fish

Disclaimer: The X-men are property of Twentieth Century Fox and the Marvel Entertainment Group. I am using their characters for my own un-profitable enjoyment. Anything that you do not recognise is my own.

Authors Note: Woo chapter two! Not sure if Fanfiction will show it, but anything that is in italics are thoughts. Happy reading. And thanks for reviewing!

**Chapter 2: The Human Fish**

The large Sea World Orlando sign came up in the distance as they turned off the highway. Storm grabbed the back of one of the younger student's collar as he tried to lean too far out of the window of the bus. It was not a long drive from their hotel, yet long enough for hyperactive and hormonal teenagers.

A whoop of joy was called as the bus sped round a corner and into the park; huge murals of orcas and dolphins lined the walls of the entryway promising adventure to come. Once everyone had got off the bus there was the customary head count before they were led into the park.

Pyro stood gazing around as he tried to listen to Scott's talk about where to meet. He knew Piotr would be listening so there was no point in him paying attention as well. Voices filtered in and out of his head and he was only vaguely aware of his teacher talking. Instead there were far more interesting things to look at, such as the blonde haired girl that had just walked past. He wondered whether he should tell her that her skirt had got tucked into her underwear. Nah, he would just enjoy the view instead. He was brought back to reality when he heard his name being spoken.

"John."

"Yes Professor Grey." He said whipping his head around a bit too quickly and almost giving himself whiplash.

"Please pay attention. We will meet at the new exhibit at two to watch the show. Until then you may do as you wish. If you don't meet us there you will spend the rest of the day walking around with one of us. Okay? Please stay in groups of no less than three; off you go." She said to the group of fidgeting students.

Pyro nodded absently before following Piotr and Bobby towards the first attraction.

OOOOOO

The four professors stayed there for a bit to check that everyone was in a suitable group and answer a few queries before all the children departed. After what seemed like an age they were finally alone. Contemplating what to do first they headed over to the nearest café and settled down outside.

"Drink anyone?" Storm asked standing up.

"Coke." Came Scott's reply.

"Coffee please." Jean said placing her bag down by her feet.

"And lemonade for me please Ororo. Thank you." The Professor said.

Storm nodded before heading in and getting their drinks, idle chatter filled the table as they waited for the African woman to return. A few minutes later she returned with their drinks and there was a lull in the conversation as they drank for a bit. The peacefulness was interrupted occasionally by Scott's slurping through the curly straw that came with his drink.

"What do you think this girl is going to be like?" Jean asked no one in particular as her fingers settled around her mug.

"She is using herself as an attraction she can't have that much self worth." Scott said pausing in his slurping.

"She is obviously doing it for some reason." Jean said placing her mug down.

"She could be using the money." Storm offered.

"No, I don't think she is getting paid for this. I do not even think that they know she is one of us. Still we will find out shortly what she is really like. Until then shall we look around?" Charles said placing his empty glass down.

The four X-men stood from the table and placed their glasses and mugs back on the tray in the centre. Jean gave Scott a reproving look as she saw him place the straw in his pocket. He shrugged his shoulders and had the good will to look vaguely embarrassed. Storm just chuckled as she walked past them and set herself to pushing the Professor in his wheel chair.

OOOOOO

"Hey guys we better be heading over to that new attraction soon." Bobby said looking at his watch.

Pyro nodded as he tucked the large stuffed Orca he had won under his arm. He was not entirely sure what he was going to do with it, but Bobby had challenged him to the hoop toss and he had won. He had to admit he did look a bit of a twat walking round with a bright blue stuffed whale under his arm, but he could not complain. He was going to challenge Piotr to the ball throw, but then thought better of it. The Russian had wicked accuracy when it came to throwing things, and with muscles four times the size of his, he did not want to risk it.

"Which way is it?" He said looking at the map, trying to juggle it and the whale.

"Come." Was Piotr's only response and he led the way through the bustling crowd seemingly knowing where he was going.

Bobby looked at him and shrugged his shoulders; they jogged to catch up with the Russian and enjoyed not having to barge through crowds. People generally moved out of Piotr's way just because he was so big.

Soon enough they were at a large pavilion with a deep tank in the middle. They made their way over to where the professors and some of the younger mutants were sitting. Settling themselves into the rather uncomfortable seats they bought drinks from a vender. All around the large pavilion were signs displaying 'the human fish'. Pyro snorted, it was not the most original name in the world and the pictures of a girl definitely did not look like a fish. Still the photographs were interesting and he was curious to see what the mutant looked like in person.

Pyro jumped as a squeal announced the presence of Jubilee who had just sat next to him. The Asian girl, as usual, was dressed almost entirely in yellow and resembled a light bulb. He always thought that appropriate as most of her globules were yellow and they sure as hell hurt when they hit you.

"Where did you get such an adorable whale?" She said excitedly pulling the bright blue orca from his lap.

"Oh, Bobby challenged me and lost." He turned to look at the blonde haired boy and smirked. "Fire always beats ice."

Bobby just nodded in agreement, not really listening to the jibe at him.

"It's so cute."

Pyro looked at the Asian girl before smiling. "You can have it." He said glad to be rid of the thing. Saves him carrying it around.

He winced at the excited squeal and jumped as he felt her kiss his cheek. "Thank you so much! It is so cute!"

Her voice was cut off as music started to play in the pavilion and a trainer came out from a door. Dressed in a bright red all in one swimming suit Pyro thought she looked a bit ridiculous. Yet he settled himself to watch the show.

OOOOOO

She swam lazily around the bottom of her tank occasionally stopping to move a rock to a new place. She did enjoy home improvements. Occasionally she swam fast around the outside of the tank next to the glass so that people in the stands got a glimpse of her. Yet most of the time she was content just to laze around. Knowing that any day she wanted to, she could just walk out and be done with her career in entertainment.

Today was a special day, her nightly excursion had been successful and it would be a while before another one happened, she did not want people to get too suspicious. Still her work was going well and was almost complete, another nights work and she would be done.

That was not the reason it was a special day however. Today she knew there was a sizable amount of mutants in the crowd, one of which she knew had been trying to follow her mentally. She had managed to shake him off yet somehow he had found her. She did not mind too much as long as he was reasonable and did not try and force his way into her mind, that she had issues with. She did not think he would however as all his probing up until late had been gentle, almost asking for permission. She had of course blocked him as best as possible, her mind was her own and no body else's. There were things in there after all that were best kept silent for the moment. Until the time when she was free, then secrets would be unbound.

_Maybe. _

Still today would be a special day and as the music started she waited for her call to start performing.

OOOOOO

Xavier watched as the music started and the trainer moved to the side and placed a microphone to her mouth so that everyone could hear her. He could tell that the mutant was in the pool and occasionally he caught a glimpse as she swam by the tank, but her mind was still firmly closed. He was almost impatient in his want to find and talk to her.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to Sea World Orlando. This is our latest attraction and we call it the 'human fish'. She is called this for reasons that will become obvious when you see her." She stopped in her commentary and a male trainer that stood on the other side of the tank blew a whistle.

From the bottom of the tank came bubbles as the girl came shooting vertically up out of the water. In the air she turned a somersault before landing back in the water with barely a splash.

The girl swam slowly to the surface then climbed gracefully onto a platform at the front of the tank. She lay on her stomach and bent her legs so she could kick them slowly in the air. Xavier almost gasped when he saw her for the first time, yet refrained in doing so. Her skin was blue, as in the pictures, her face was very human, bar her eyes which were yellow and had watery oval pupils. Her ears were larger than most humans and her hair was a rich kelp green. She did not wear any clothes yet she did not look naked. Fins protruded from her forearms and calves, but most noticeable were the chains that contained her.

"She was found in fishing nets not too far from the coast of Cuba. The fishermen were not sure what to do with her, so she was sent here. We are not entirely sure what she is, other than the fact that she is clearly of both aquatic and terrestrial origin. We also have no idea of where the collar and chains on her came from. Yet they do not appear to hinder her swimming capabilities." As she said this the male trainer walked onto the platform and whistled again as the girl rose to a crouch.

It was then that the crowd really noticed a set of chains around her. A thick ugly collar hung round her neck below her gill line. From this two chains attached to cuffs on each wrist, she did not seem bothered by them however, and they did not restrict her movement.

"As you can see, she has both gills and a nose. Whilst underwater her nostrils close preventing any water getting into her lungs and whilst on land her gill covers close to stop the filaments sticking together. She has thick webbing on her hands and feet that propel her through the water at great speeds. The fins on her arms and legs, we believe, help with steering."

The male trainer made a signal with his hands, and the girl leapt from a crouch back, flipping backwards into the water. She started to swim round lazily as a rope was tied up.

"Despite the fact that she has a mouth and what appears to be a human voice box, she has never uttered a word beyond clicks and whistles which we normally associate with our orcas and dolphins. We are unsure whether she is unable to speak or simply does not know how. She is very intelligent and understands spoken commands as well as hand signals and whistles."

She dove down to the bottom of her tank and swum up fast easily leaping over the rope that had been tied above her tank. The rope was three meters from the waters surface and the crowd watched as she soared over it easily before pulling herself into a ball and bombing back into the water.

The trainer continued talking as the other one made the girl do different tricks including swimming, agility and more jumping. Towards the end the girl started swimming to the glass front of her tank and pressed her face against it. The distorted face made several of the mutant children laugh and the Professor smiled at them before looking pointedly at the girl. He felt her quickly shut her mind and saw her roll her eyes slightly at the trainers before swimming backwards sending a spray of water over the side of the tank.

Xavier smiled at the girls antics before settling back to watch the rest of the show. Due to this being a school outing he had arranged with the park to let him and the children talk privately with her trainers. It was meant so that the children could have a proper look at her, for educational reasons only, whilst he tried to persuade her to come back to the mansion.

Clapping arose as the show came to an end; the girl swam to the surface and smiled at everyone, showing a set of pearly white teeth. She waved at the crowd and winked at Xavier before sinking back into the deeper part of her tank.

OOOOOO

She settled down into the large imitation clam shell on the bottom of her tank. She slowly swayed so that a constant flow of water played over her gills.

_Oh this will be interesting. Perhaps I will talk with him. See what he has to say, but business always comes first._


	4. Girl on a Leash

Disclaimer: The X-men are property of Twentieth Century Fox and the Marvel Entertainment Group. I am using their characters for my own un-profitable enjoyment. Anything that you do not recognise is my own.

Authors Note: R.I.P Popcorn, my lovely little guinea pig. Sobs. Anyway the story starts picking up here a bit. I have one more chapter left to write for this one, and I've decided that it'll be split into three different stories for the three different films. Happy reading!

**Chapter 3: Girl on a leash **

Charles waited until the rest of the spectators had gone before indicating to his students that they could stand up. "I have arranged to meet with the girl and her trainers in a few minutes. I want you all to behave appropriately and do not let on that you know she is a mutant. Just watch and observe." He said looking pointedly at some of the older mutants. "Ah here comes the trainer now."

The female trainer that had been talking was still dressed in the red swimsuit as she walked towards them. She surveyed the group before turning to Charles. "Is this everyone?"

Charles nodded.

"Good, now we will take you into the back of her living space and then she will be brought out for you to look at. If you will follow me."

The students looked round excitedly as they followed the trainer through a door into the area behind the tank. Once there they were told to sit down on some chairs that had been placed around whilst the girl was brought out.

Charles looked around and saw that the tank outside was linked to a smaller one inside where he presumed she spent her nights, a door at the bottom of the tank let her move between the two at her own will. There was a small platform so she could get out of the water. In the tank there was a large imitation clam shell and small rocks and seaweed which he presumed made it look authentic. A door closing to his right brought his attention back to the room.

The male trainer walked through the door and shut it pulling the girl through behind him. A dog's leash had been fixed to the collar around her neck to stop her running off. The Professor almost scowled in annoyance at her treatment, she was no animal. The trainer was followed by the girl as he walked to the front of the room. She seemed to be walking in a shuffling, duck footed gate as if she was not used to walking on land. As soon as they stopped she dropped to a squat and sat observing them occasionally cocking her head curiously.

"She's pretty." Siryn said. And nods of agreement went round the younger mutants.

Charles refrained from saying anything as he watched the girl smile at the complement. The male trainer did not say anything but looked at the Siryn and frowned, he obviously did not agree with her.

The young mutant tugged on the hand of the trainer and pointed to the mutants. Then strained against her collar as she tried to get closer to them. The trainers hand was firm and made her stay where she was. An evil grin lit her face as she looked at some of the older students. Cupping her hand slightly she shook it from side to side and then pointed up at the trainer.

The Professor refrained from laughing as he heard Jean splutter next to him. Unfortunately the older students had no qualms about laughing and were in fits at the 'wanker' sign the blue girl had given to her trainer.

"I'm very sorry; we do not know where she picked such rude behaviour up from. Probably from the crowd, yet do not worry we do not think she knows what she is doing." The trainer said giving the leash a sharp yank.

"I think she knows damn well what she's doing sir!" Jubilee said leaning on Kitty trying to stop laughing.

The trainer just glared.

'Hurry up sir; I'm getting board very quickly. Use your mutation and tell the twat to bugger off so we can talk properly.' Charles eyebrows rose, it was the only outward sign of his shock at the voice in his head and the language it had used. Nodding at her, he directed his mutation at the trainer who calmly dropped the leash and walked back out the door.

OOOOOO

'Thanks.' She said to the man in the wheel chair. Standing up properly she stretched and smiled as some of her vertebrate clicked. Reaching behind her neck she undid the clasp and let the leash fall to the floor. She stared at it disdainfully for a second, eyeing it in distaste. Looking up she ran her webbed fingers through her hair as best as possible and tucked it behind her ears before turning back to the mutants.

'So, what you come here to ask me?' She said taking a few steps back, no longer in the shuffling gait, and leant on the glass wall to her tank.

'Will you not talk properly?' The professor asked.

'Nah. Haven't been able to speak like this for ages. Feels good.' She said before standing up straight again and coming to look at the students properly.

'I am Professor Charles Xavier. Principle of a school in Westchester New York. It is a school for the gifted, a school for people like us.' He said watching the girl as she walked up to one of the younger mutants.

'Like us? You want to rephrase that? So far none of your students have gills.' She said as she moved on and stopped in front of Kitty. Smiling she placed a webbed hand on the girls chest and pushed. Her smile turned to a fanatical grin as her hand went right through her.

'A school for mutants. Where we can be safe.'

_How did she know about Kitty's gift?_

'Hmm, and you want me to come with you. Tell me, why have you been following me?' She said dropping to a squat in front of Pyro. She placed a hand in his pocket and pulled out a lighter. She watched his expression curiously, wondering what his mutation was. As soon as she flipped the lighter on, she understood as fire flared in his eyes. She gave the lighter back and walked around him slowly looking at him.

'You send out interesting brain patterns, similar to one of my staff. Professor Jean Grey here had the same mental patterns as you when she was young.' Charles said indicating to the red headed woman.

She flashed her eyes off Pyro and looked at the woman in front of him. Her red hair stirred something in her memory and it took a second to think what it was. A maniacal grin lit her face and her eyes shone as she took a closer look. 'How long have they been up Professor? They could do some damage!'

She smiled at the Professors slightly confused look and smiled even more as realisation crossed his mind. Her eyes flashed in mirth before she went round looking at the students again.

'What is your mutation?' He asked looking curiously at the girl. For her telepathic ability did not seem to match her physical mutation.

'In all respects I have gills and webbed hands, what do you think my mutation is? I have a few other talents, but all in good time Professor.' She said, finally finished looking round the students. She walked back to where she placed the leash, once again she glared at it before reaching down to pick it up between two fingers and holding it in front of her nose. She looked round it and at the Professor.

'What we do for freedom.' She said shaking her head. Attaching it back to her collar, she dropped to her squat and rested the palms of her hands on the floor. 'I think I will come to your school, although I have business to finish up here, although I think you know about that.'

As she said this she looked at the door and watched it open, the trainer ran back in and grabbed her leash. She smiled as she stood up slightly and shuffled duck footedly to the door. When she got there she turned around and looked at the Professor. 'Meet me at Liberty Island in a month's time. Your school better have a swimming pool.'

OOOOOO

As the door shut behind the mutant the Professor looked around slightly stunned. He watched as she appeared in the inside tank and started swimming around, occasionally pressing her face against the glass again. She did this weird sort of underwater dance that made Siryn turn around in horror and cover her eyes. The Professor saw this and looked at some of the younger male mutants who had started staring at the glass in awe. He shook his head and clapped his hands snapping them out of it before leading them silently to the door.

Once outside they heard the noise of another show going on and walked away from that arena. The students were all talking excitedly about the girl and looked at the Professor knowing that they had been conversing mentally.

"She is joining us in one month's time." He said looking around at the students.

"What's her name?" A young boy asked.

Charles frowned for a second. "She never told me."

OOOOOO

Later that night, when all the students had been sent to their rooms in the hotel, the teachers sat in the bar talking quietly. They sat furthest away from the door on a table pushed into the corner so that they could not be over heard. Silence descended broken only by Scott's Budweiser being slurped through his curly straw.

"What is she like Professor?" Storm asked stirring her cocktail with a straw.

"She seems happy, and was quite content to talk mentally. This is unusual as I do not think she is a telepath." He said.

"Perhaps she knew one once and is used to speaking in that way. I did feel something probe my mind as she was looking at me." Jean said trying to ignore the slurping man at her side.

"She went into your thoughts?" Charles said.

_She can't have known!_

"No, she just pushed as if she wasn't entirely sure what she was doing. But it didn't feel like a usual telepath probe, almost as if she was actually in my mind. It was very weird and the feeling stopped as soon as it started." She responded, taking the paper umbrella out of her drink and placing it in Scott's beer.

"She seemed a bit rude to me." Scott said. He frowned at the pink umbrella in his drink before picking it out and placing it in Storms.

"I don't want your beer corrupting my cocktail!" She said taking the offending umbrella out and placing it in the ash tray.

"She did not talk to us, made rude gestures at the trainer. And went round poking and prodding all the students as if they were the ones on display. She even made a few use there mutations, she pushed her hand right through Kitty, and almost made Pyro use his." Scott said.

"Well in her defence, the trainer wasn't all that nice; he did stick a leash on her after all." Storm responded pointing a finger at the man.

"It was if she knew what all their mutations were." Jean said.

"I think she has an ability to see a person for who they are and because we are mutants this meant she was able to see our mutations. I do not think this is part of her mutation however. I also do not think she was intentionally being rude, just testing her boundaries. Still we will find out more about her when she arrives in a months time. Until then we need to build a larger swimming pool, I do not think ours is going to be adequate." He said smiling.

"What was that weird dance she did at the end?" Scott said. "The one that sent some of the younger boys drool and made Siryn shy away?"

"I don't know, we'll have to ask Siryn about that one. Still I am looking forward to finding out more about her." Charles said draining the rest of his drink.

The X-men all nodded before retiring for the night.

OOOOOO

Kitty and Jubilee were awake in their room. Jubilee had her arms crossed behind her head and was staring at the ceiling. Small globules of light hung around the room to give it some light without indicating to the professors that they were still awake.

"So what you think she's going to be like?" Jubilee asked.

"I don't know. The way she knew my mutation and pushed her hand through my chest was weird." The brown haired girl said following the patterns made by her friend's lights.

"Yeah and she just looked at me and smirked at Oris." The small Asian girl said.

"Suppose we'll find out more about her when she comes to the mansion. She'll be with us probably, she looks our age. Do you think that means we'll get a bigger room? Hang on; Oris?"

"My whale. Oris the orca." Jubilee rolled to her side and giggled as a pillow came her way.

Throwing one back it turned into a full blown pillow fight, with Oris the orca sat on the table looking on.

OOOOOO

Pyro rolled over trying to get comfortable in the hotel bed. He could hear Piotr's loud snores coming from one side of him. Bobby's breath was coming out in clouds that hung in the air; he had made the mistake of trying to wake him up by shaking him once. Apparently the air temperature around him dropped whilst he was sleeping, he had spent the next couple of minutes trying to get the feeling back in his fingers. Now he just yelled at him to get him up.

When he fell asleep he dreamt someone was laughing whilst engulfed in fire. The fire doused and turned to ocean and he saw orca's that leapt from the water. The orca's then turned into huge serpents which carried a hazy figure on their backs. One serpent arose from the water and created a massive wave that turned to fire as it crashed down upon him.

He did not remember anything the next morning.


	5. Suicidal Fish

Disclaimer: The X-men are property of Twentieth Century Fox and the Marvel Entertainment Group. I am using their characters for my own un-profitable enjoyment. Anything that you do not recognise is my own.

Authors Note: I gained the inspiration for the last bit of this chapter from one of my nights in Plymouth, when me and a couple of my friends were sitting round getting bored. I'm going on holiday next week so don't know when the next chapter will be up. Have fun reading!

**Chapter 4: Suicidal Fish**

The Professor picked up his morning newspaper and placed it on the table in front of him. The front page headlines glared back at him and his eyes quickly scanned the text.

PRICELESS TRAINED ORCAS AND DOLPHINS TAKEN FROM SEA WORLD ORLANDO

LATEST ATTRACTION 'THE HUMAN FISH' STOLEN

"FREEDOM FOR ALL KIND" SCRAWLED ON TANKS

Charles placed the newspaper down and frowned, he knew almost certainly that it was down to the girl that they were going to pick up tomorrow. And he could not help but feel a little apprehensive about meeting her again. After all he did not know anything about her background or anything about her in general. All he knew was that she, for some unknown reason, had a innate desire to free things. Yet she had spent time in captivity herself, voluntarily.

_No doubt all will be revealed in time._

He shook his head; it was going to be an interesting couple of weeks. He smiled and offered a greeting as Scott came in through the door. The Professor sat down and poured himself some strawberry milk before proceeding to drink it with his curly straw.

Charles reckoned that he must have carried it back on the plane with him, as if Jean had spotted it in their luggage it would be in the bin. Then again he did not put it past the younger man to have fished it out. He had grown strangely attached to it over the last few weeks.

Scott always reminded him of a child that never quite grew up; growing up in an orphanage it was easy to understand. He was stoic and professionally enough on missions, yet there was times when he would sit down with the younger students and watch the Disney Channel quite happily. More often or not it was the students that wanted to watch something else before he did. Scott was a good man and Charles could not think of another person he would want to lead his team. Charles also wondered what would happen then the curly straw inevitable broke.

"What's up Professor?" Scott said finishing off the last of the pink milk.

"Oh nothing. Just reading today's headlines. Turns out our new student has caused quite a stir." Charles said handing the newspaper to Scott.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, letting her into the school." He said after reading the article and placing the paper down.

"She is a young mutant in need of a proper education and a family. We can give her that." Charles said.

"I know, she just seems a bit odd. Voluntarily being a display in an amusement park? That is not normal, even for mutant standards."

"You'll find out more about her tomorrow when you pick her up. I'm not sure when she will arrive, so I'm afraid you will be there most of the day until she shows up." Charles said wheeling himself away from the breakfast table and out into the hall.

"And what are we meant to do whilst we are waiting for her?" Scott said to himself.

Charles smiled as he heard his ex pupil mumble. "Do some site seeing." He said loud enough for the man to hear.

OOOOOO

Scott mumbled to himself as he picked up his breakfast bowl and washed it up. Wait around all day for a girl he did not think should come here? He could see tomorrow was going to be a thrilling day. He walked into the games room and saw Bobby and Piotr playing pool, the Russian boy was winning as usual. He settled himself down in one of the large sofa's opposite the new plasma TV, the sofa's only other occupant was the small girl Siryn. She appeared to be reading a letter yet the TV was playing Recess. Deciding to watch the show he settled himself down more. After a few minutes a voice at his side spoke.

"Good morning Professor Summers." Siryn said folding up the letter and placing it back in its envelope.

"Morning Siryn, how are you?" He said wrenching his gaze away from the cartoon.

"Okay, my Daddy just sent me a letter." She said in a way of explaining the envelope at her side.

"Is he okay?" Scott said politely. He and Banshee had never truly got on. The Irish mutant came once a year to check up on his daughter and teach her new ways to use her mutation. On his last visit he had shown her how to create sound bubbles so that no one could eavesdrop.

"Yes he is fine. Next time he thinks that I might be able to use my voice to fly!" The girl said turning to him in excitement.

"Fly? With your voice? I'll believe it when I see it." He said ruffling her hair.

"Would be fun wouldn't it?" She said with a vacant expression in her eyes.

"Siryn." He said, he wondered briefly why some students were referred to by their names and others by their codenames. "What was that dance that the mutant girl did in Sea World?" It had been intriguing him for a while yet he had not gotten the chance to ask the young Irish girl.

"Oh, that." The girl blushed slightly. "It was the dance of the nymph, alluring to all males who have a strong desire. Luckily though she did not complete it or do it properly, if she had even you and Professor Xavier would be in her grasp."

Scott gulped and looked at the girl in shock. "Why did you look away?"

"She knew that I knew what she was doing. Had she altered it she could have me as well. The tales of nymphs are strong in Ireland, as are those of the merrows. There is a strong folklore and mystery surrounding them. I am looking forward to meeting her properly. Don't worry; I think she's going to be nice." She added the last bit after looking at the shocked expression on Scott's face.

"I'll take your word on it." He said standing up. "I am glad your father is well, but please don't try and fly without supervision."

The small girl smiled back up at him. "I'm not that stupid Professor. I don't think it will work, but it'll be fun all the same."

Scott smiled back and walked out of the room in search of Jean.

OOOOOO

She smiled as she ducked underneath another boat. The feel of the open water sluicing past her gills made her giddy and she could not help leaping out of the water and over the small tug boat. As she landed in the water she almost felt like giggling at the expression on the boat's driver. She did not giggle, as giggling underwater inevitably left her spluttering despite the fact that her windpipe was closed off.

Instead she dived down deeper until she could see the sandy bottom. She allowed her powerful legs to propel her through the water as she trailed a hand in the sand kicking it up behind her. The water was only shallow here; this close to the coast, but it was good enough for her. A fish swam past her and looked at her curiously before swimming off, its scales glinting in the murky light from the surface.

She swam along the bottom for an hour before she decided it was high time to surface and see where she was. Darting towards the sun her head broke the surface quickly. Instantly her gill covers snapped shut and her windpipe opened, allowing her to breathe normally. She bobbed around on the surface for a bit before she saw a small fishing boat. Rolling onto her back she swam towards it.

"Excuse me!" She called up to the boat.

She waited a few seconds before she saw a head come over the railings. The look of shock on his face made her giggle, which she was able to do since she was above water.

"Yes." The man said back warily.

"How far is it to Liberty Island?"

The man looked at her dumfounded.

"Excuse me sir, I asked how far it was to Liberty Island."

"Oh sorry, Sixty four kilometres north." He said still looking at her strangely.

"In miles?" She said back shrugging her shoulders at the metric measure.

"Around forty." He said.

"Thank you." And she dived under again leaving a very bewildered fisherman behind.

As soon as she was under the water her nostrils closed and her gills opened and she swum leisurely northwards, following the coastal current. Out of her peripheral vision she saw a dolphin swimming towards her. She made a clicking noise and smiled as she heard a whistle back. Suddenly she was surrounded by them and they played in the warm morning sunshine for a bit. They chased each other beneath the water then leapt clear to see who could make the bigger splash. She rode for a bit on the back of one of the larger dolphins and whooped in joy as they cut through the surf. The water around them was filled with clicks and whistles as they talked and bickered among themselves.

Before long though the large leader sent out a long low whistle and the group started to turn back. She sent out a string of clicks and whistles as a farewell and smiled as she heard them in return. Carrying on her swim she surfaced again and saw the Statue of Liberty on the horizon.

OOOOOO

Storm lowered the jet onto Liberty Island and turned off the engines. The whole area was covered in a thick fog so that the jet could not be seen, yet it left them with the problem of how to find the girl. She looked at Jean and Scott before shrugging her shoulders, they might as well start looking for her. Lowering the ramp they walked down it before making their way to the edge of the island and looked down into the water.

"Here mutant, mutant, mutant. Here mutant, mutant, mutant." Came Scott's rather sarcastic voice as he slumped down on a bench, not caring that it was slightly damp from the fog.

"She's not a dog Scott." Storm said looking at him sharply.

"Do you have a better idea of finding her? And she was wearing a leash the last time we saw her." He retorted.

"Well no, but talking to her like she is a dog isn't going to help." Storm said sitting on the bench next to him.

"Suppose we could just wait for her to show up." Jean said taking the other spot on the bench and looking into the fog covered water.

"We could be waiting a long time." Storm said. "Jean can't you just search her out?"

"No, sorry, I can't sense her at all. Its like the Professor said, she can block her mind completely. I'm afraid we are going to have to wait the hard way."

Ten minutes passed, fifteen minutes passed. After thirty minutes had passed in silence Scott cracked. "I'm bored."

"And that didn't sound childish." Jean said smiling and poking her fiancé in the ribs, earning a grin from him.

Silence resumed, another forty minutes they sat there before Storm started mumbling softly to herself. "Jambo, Jambo Bwana."

"What are you singing?" Jean asked looking at her friend in bemusement.

"It's a Kenyan greeting song. Hello, Hello Sir." She started before a splash silenced her.

All three looked at each other before running to the edge of the water and peering down in search of the girl. Their search was in vein however as Scott pointed to a fish flapping on its side next to him. He picked it up by the tail and scrutinised it.

"It's just a suicidal fish." He said throwing it back into the water.

"What could depress a fish enough so that it would want to commit suicide?" Jean asked realising that in their silence they had all gone slightly mad.

"I don't know, but in that episode of Red Dwarf a trout shut closed its gills to commit suicide." He said.

"Wasn't it a salmon?" Storm asked. They both shrugged their shoulders, not really remembering what type of fish it was enough to argue.

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you both watch Red Dwarf." Jean said looking horror struck.

A loud spluttering noise brought their attention back to the water as bubbles started rising rapidly to the surface followed quickly by the blue girl. She appeared to be struggling to breath and they hauled her out onto the side quickly.

"Never make me laugh when I'm under water it doesn't work." She said finally catching her breath and standing up. "And do you have any idea how ridiculous you all sounded? If you're meant to be my teachers I don't stand a hope in hell!"

The three X-men stared at the girl in shock and watched as she cocked her head and stared back. "What?"

"Sorry we just haven't heard you speak before. Come we have a jet to take us back to the school." Storm said shaking her head.

She followed them, head cocked curiously. "Never heard an English person speak before?"


	6. Tiddles

Disclaimer: The X-men are property of Twentieth Century Fox and the Marvel Entertainment Group. I am using their characters for my own un-profitable enjoyment. Anything that you do not recognise is my own.

Authors Note: Right, I'm back from my holiday. Was absolute hell trying to get back through Heathrow! Anyway, I've just finished this story and will start planning the next two soon. This chapter is predominantly speech, which I hate but it was the best way to get things across.

Happy reading. Please review it makes me smile.

**Chapter 5: Tiddles**

They walked up the ramp to the jet and stopped to look at the girl who was standing at the bottom. She was ringing her green hair out and brushing water off her fins. She looked up at them with wide eyes.

"Sorry, didn't think you'd appreciate me dripping in your jet."

They just stared at her dumbly before motioning her on board.

"This is the Blackbird or X-jet; we travel to most of our missions this way." Jean said motioning to a seat at the front.

"Missions? I thought I was going to high school?" She said sitting down and strapping herself in.

"You are. No doubt the Professor will explain everything when we get back to the mansion." Scott said looking curiously at the girl.

"I'd rather you just stared at me than look at me out the corner of your eye." She said looking back at him. Obviously unimpressed with his glancing.

"Most of our students look like normal _Homo Sapiens_. You, well, don't." He said in way of explanation.

"Oh well spotted!" She said sarcastically folding her arms in front of her.

Jean and Storm snickered gently as they lifted the jet off the ground. Once they were in the air silence resumed and they tried to coax the girl into a conversation. Yet she seemed quite happy to look out of the large windshield and watch the clouds race past them.

"So you are from Britain." Jean said trying to break the silence.

"Nope, I'm from England." She looked up at Jean's expression. "Sorry, I was born in England, not Wales, Scotland or Ireland; England. That makes me English as far as I'm concerned."

"Oh. Where abouts?" Jean asked.

"Dorset. South coast if you don't have a clue where I'm talking about. Then again my knowledge of American geography is a little rusty so you'll have to bear with me." She said fiddling with one of her chains.

Silence resumed for a bit before she turned to look at Storm. "You're from Kenya aren't you?"

"Yes." Storm said turning round slightly to look at the girl. A small frown on her face.

"Jambo, habari?" The blue girl said.

"Mzuri Sana." Storm said back her frown turning to a smile.

"Sorry that's about my limit of Swahili conversation. I went there a couple of years ago. Before I turned blue that is." She said with an apologetic smile and a shrug of the shoulders that sent her chains rattling. "Oh I do know the Kenyan Welcome song."

Storms smile grew wider and for the rest of the journey back to the mansion they sang the Kenyan Welcome song over and over again. It got to the point that over that night Scott was reciting it in his head.

OOOOOO

"Here we are. Xavier's school for gifted children." Jean said as they got out of the jet.

"This is very cool. If slightly creepy." The blue girl said as she followed the three teachers into an elevator. Once they had exited the lift she stared around wide eyed at the long halls.

She followed the professors obediently occasionally asking questions about the school and what it was like living there. Soon they arrived outside a big door which had a plaque on it saying 'Charles Xavier'. She guessed this was the office of the man in the wheelchair. The headmaster, or principle or whatever they called them over here.

A voice called from the inside. Before they had even knocked. "Come in."

She walked in first followed and watched the other teachers file in behind her and shut the door. She stared around for a bit and noticed all the books around the room and almost cringed. Studying was not her strong point.

"Would you care to take a seat?" The Professor asked from behind his desk.

She nodded and sat down in front of him, tucking one leg up beneath her, making sure her fin was not caught first of course. The seat was large and squishy, a bit too comfortable for an office chair she thought, yet it was still nice. She rested a webbed hand on the arm rest and ran a finger over the engraving. Eventually she looked up at the man sitting before her; she also vaguely noticed the others had sat down as well.

"Did you get here all right?" He enquired.

"Oh yes, didn't take me long, a few freed dolphins accompanied me for some of the way. Hitched a ride on the back of a fishing boat, until he realised I was there of course. Shame, he caught good fish, had a nice dinner there." She said reminiscing.

"You swam?"

"In all due respects sir, I don't think many people would let me on a bus. I have gills, might as well use them." She said shrugging her shoulders at the, in her mind, ridiculous question.

"Okay, well let me welcome you to my school. But first before we start any of that, I would like you tell me a bit about yourself. Starting with you name." He said smiling slightly.

"Hannah." She looked around at their blank expressions. "What were you expecting? Tiddles? I like to think I have a perfectly English name."

"It is nothing; we just did not anything about you. And to find you are English comes as a bit of a shock." Charles said smiling at her.

"Oh, well what else do you want to know? I'm from Dorset in England, I was eleven when my mutation kicked in, believe me that was a shock to the system." She said.

"What happened?"

"Well I woke up bright blue for a start." She said dryly.

Charles laughed at the girl in front of him. She would make a good asset to the school. "How old are you? And what previous schooling have you had?"

"I've just turned fifteen. Followed the English curriculum up until I was eleven, obviously turning blue and sprouting fins and gills made it hard to go to school. So have been self taught since then, so there could be a few gaping holes in my knowledge." She said shrugging her shoulders.

"That's not a problem Hannah; we'll soon get you up to scratch. School starts again tomorrow and you will be sharing a room with Jubilee and Kitty, as you are all the same age. They'll be here in a few minutes to show you around. No doubt also filling you in on school life."

"Okay, I don't have anything with me." Hannah said indicating a lack of a bag or anything in general.

"Not a problem, we'll get you set up soon enough. If I may ask, where did you get those chains or are they are part of your mutation?" The Professor asked gently.

Instantly the blue girls face changed from happy and chirpy to dark and closed, making her look a lot older than her fifteen years. A low growling hiss came from her throat and her webbed hands clenched into a fist. Her teeth bared into a snarl and as she spoke even her voice deepened in pitch.

"It's not part of my mutation, and till it has been remedied do not speak of it."

Charles nodded his head thoughtfully and watched as her face lit up again. He watched her hand go to the collar and she gave it a sharp tug, to no avail. A knock on his door brought him out of his thoughts and two mutants walked in.

"Ah, here we are, Hannah this is Jubilee in the yellow and Kitty. Jubilee, Kitty this is Hannah." He said motioning to the girls.

He watched Hannah stand up gracefully and offered her hand to the two girls. She smiled as they started their own introductions as they walked out of the door.

"I think she will be interesting to have around." He said to the three teachers that had been silent during the talk.

"She is definitely different to how I expected her." Scott said grudgingly.

"Yes, a lot more confident than most of the new comers. And I definitely did not expect her to be English." Jean said.

"She will definitely be interesting to be around. Although if she has not been in proper education since she was eleven I fear we may have some work to do to get her up to standards." Charles said wheeling himself out behind his desk.

"She seems nice enough, only time will tell, yet by the looks of it I do not want to get on the wrong side of her temper." Storm said obviously thinking about the way she had changed when the collar was mentioned.

"No, there is something interesting about that collar though. Still I am sure we will find out in due time." He said.

"You could always probe her mind." Scott said standing up.

"I would not even if I could. She can firmly block my mind, which in itself is interesting." Charles said. "She has many secrets undoubtedly, more so than the rest of us."

OOOOOO

"So you are our new room mate." Kitty said to the blue girl.

"Apparently so. Where is our room? It has been a while since I slept in a proper bed." Hannah said walking easily at their side, webbed feet not affecting her stride.

"Where do you normally sleep then?" Jubilee asked perplexed.

"In a clam shell in the dry part of my tank." She said. "Hey it's comfier than it looks."

"Well this is our room." Kitty said coming to a stop outside a room at the end of the hall. "It's kinda new to us as well, as we have only just moved in; our old room wasn't big enough for the two of us and you as well." She said pushing open the door.

Hannah smiled as she went in, and instantly went over to the empty bed. She lay down on top of the plain cream covers and stared at the ceiling. She got up after a while and went over to the window which over looked the grounds. She grinned as she saw the large swimming pool and could not wait to get in it. "Does it ever snow here?" She asked randomly.

"Yeah it does in winter. You get snow in England?" Jubilee asked coming and standing next to her.

"Up north they get snow, but where I come from we get pathetic imitation snow, it rarely settles and if it does it's only a couple of inches deep." She said.

"Well prepare yourself for snow here!" Kitty said rolling off her bed to join them.

"Won't you get cold in snow Chica?" Jubilee asked. "You are naked."

Hannah stared at the yellow dressed girl for a second. "Chica?"

"It's her way of speaking you'll get used to it." Kitty said smiling; she had all ready spent a year in the hyperactive Asian girls company and knew all her mannerisms.

"Bloody Americanisms. I don't get cold, an advantage of being able to change my body temperature to the environment around me. Otherwise I'd evaporate when it gets too hot. Happened once though, I got really annoyed and wanted to rant, much to my horror, I evaporated. It was very embarrassing." Hannah said shrugging her shoulders.

"What happened?" Kitty asked trying to get her head round the idea of someone evaporating. "After you evaporated of course."

"Well my temper cooled down for a start. Took me over a week to figure out how to get myself back into one piece. Every time I tried a bit of me would float off. Luckily I can control it now."

Jubilee and Kitty just looked at each other; their new room mate was going to be very interesting.


	7. Mutant High

Disclaimer: The X-men are property of Twentieth Century Fox and the Marvel Entertainment Group. I am using their characters for my own un-profitable enjoyment. Anything that you do not recognise is my own.

Authors Note: Hey. Suffering withdrawl symptoms as Silent Witness has finished for this year, and they left it on an annoying note! Arggg! Gota hate it when they do that, so I have got to wait until next year to find out whether Harry has actually left or not! He better not have! Anyway, onto my story. Originally this was going to be the first chapter and so was written first. I think I wrote it while still in the middle of Amy daughter of Onlee and then had to alter it a bit when I decided to add the previous chapters and of course Hannah evolved, like all good characters do (yet sometimes its very annoying.)

Happy reading!

**Chapter 6: Mutant High**

One year later

Sitting at the back of her first class at Xavier's school for the gifted, Rouge absently stared at each one of her class mates in turn, unconsciously wondering what each of their mutations were. She growled inwardly at the thought of her own mutation, poisonous skin that would forbid her from touching another person, be it mutant or human. She already knew a few mutations, her teacher for this lesson could control the weather, mind you with a name like Storm, it really wasn't that hard to work out. Scott, or what ever his name was, shot red energy things from his eyes. She was not entirely sure how that worked, but figured it was something to do with that stupid looking red visor he wore. Then there was the doctor Jean Grey was it? She was telekinetic and the Professor was telepathic, but that was about as far as her knowledge went, and despite her annoyance with her own mutation, she was eager to learn more about her kind.

She took another look around her class and saw the boy in front of her light a lighter then catch the flame. Ah, so he could control fire, a flash of jealously crossed her mind, as she thought about how useful that could be. What use was her own mutation, other than to comatose people? Out the corner of her she saw the boy next to her reach out his hand towards the flame, she stopped herself gasping as she saw him freeze the flame, and finally she tried unsuccessfully not to giggle when the frozen flame hit the floor. The boy looked at her; nervously she turned her head and looked back at him. It was then, that she noticed him hand her a rose made out of ice.

"Hi, I'm Bobby or Iceman as some call me. Welcome to mutant high!"

"Rouge," she whispered back.

"After the class, I can show you around, and you can meet my friends if you want." Bobby said.

Rouge smiled, "Ah'd like that."

Smiling again to herself Rogue thought about the two new mutations she learnt, and realised that with friends her mutation might not be so bad after all.

OOOOOO

Hannah lay back sunning herself in the fountain. She looked towards the school, no doubt she would get yelled at for missing Storm's lesson again, American history was not her strong point. She was about to move just after the bell went, but decided the sun was just too warm and the water too cool, there was no point getting up, wastes far too much energy.

Although on first impressions that may have seemed incredibly lazy, Hannah had in fact weighed the pros against the cons. She had thought about it long and hard, moving away from the water which she felt comfortable in, to a dry classroom and dull subject, in her mind the cons very much outweighed the pros, despite the fact she was failing the subject.

Studying never was her strong point. She was now up to standards with the rest of her class mates, but never saw the point in studying American history, she was English! As far as she was concerned the Native Americans were obviously quite happy on their own land and should have been allowed to keep it. Instead they were evicted, destroying their way of life and most importantly their freedom. The only part of American history that did interest her were topics that concerned mutants, but that was all covered in their Mutant studies class which was not until tomorrow.

Slowly raising her head she saw her friends moving towards the fountain in which she was lying. Knowing that they always met here after lesson she was about to sit up and greet them. That was until she noticed a new girl with them. She had not seen her before, thinking about it for only a short amount of time she ducked under the water and her gills opened allowing her to take in oxygen. She swam lazily around the bottom of the three foot deep fountain, allowing the water to constantly flow over her gills. She made sure that she did not create any wake and prayed that the cursed boy that could walk on water did not give her away.

OOOOOO

Bobby motioned for Rogue to sit next to him on the bench; he smiled as she hesitantly sat down. He wondered why she was so shy; he had been informed of her mutation. He understood why she was wary about being touched, even if it was through material, but he could not get his head round why she would be shy in other people's company.

Shaking his head he looked around to see if all his friends were here. He nodded as each made themselves comfortable, and then he frowned slightly as he noticed Hannah's absence, then again she was not in American history, but that was nothing new. His eyes settled on the fountain, and he allowed a small smile as he noticed the tiny trail of bubbles reaching the surface, deciding to let her have her fun he turned his attention back to Rouge.

"Well, these are my friends, we are pretty much the oldest in the school, asides the teachers, so we group together. Being the oldest is cool in some respects, yet sometimes it sucks completely." Bobby said motioning to the rest of the group.

Rogue quirked her eyebrow when Bobby mentioned that it wasn't all good being the oldest. "Why is being the oldest not always good?" She said in her slow southern drawl.

An Asian girl, to her right, lay on the grass on her back as she answered. "Sometimes we get left on baby sitting duties, or even better, lunch duty. I hate making dinner, it takes ages."

"It's ok, because some of them can feed themselves; one of the younger children is a lizard mutation so he pretty much feeds himself." A girl with pale skin and dark hair said as she pulled her legs up underneath her to make herself more comfortable on the chair.

"Yeah but you really don't wana be around when he does that hun. It's gross. There are some things in this life I would love to see, but seeing him munch on moths is not one of them." The Asian girl said wrinkling her nose.

The dark haired girl shot an agreeable look at the yellow clothed girl before continuing. "Piotr over there, on the other hand, can eat more in a day than most people do in a week."

Bobby shook his head at his friends bantering. "Anyway, I'll introduce you and they'll describe their mutations. It is handy to learn everyone's mutations in case of an accident."

"Yeah, because when Bobby catches a cold he sneezes icicles!" The boy that could manipulate fire said laughing.

Bobby glared but carried on as he noticed Rogue next to him trying to suppress her giggles. "Anyway, that's Jubilee over there in the yellow."

"Chica, yellow is the colour to be wearing. I can create globules. Well that's what I call them, they are electricity things. Hannah calls me Sparky, or the Human Spark Plug. But Jubes is what most people call me." She said propping herself up on one elbow and using her free arm to create balls of yellow light in front of her.

"Don't get in her way when she's mad because they hurt!" Pyro said.

"John there has been on the receiving end far more times than most people." Jubilee said with a smirk.

"That's Piotr, a.k.a Colossus."

"Hello." He said in his deep accent. In way of describing his mutant powers he stood up and turned his body into metal.

"He's also a dam good throw and don't challenge him to pool unless you plan to lose." Bobby said as the Russian boy sat down.

"I am not that good, they are just all bad." He said in his accented voice.

"If you don't mind me asking, where are you from?" Rouge asked looking in awe at the huge boy.

"Russia."

"This is John." Bobby said, indicating to the boy with the red streaks in his hair.

"Pyro please. Nice to meet you." He said nodding to her. "I can manipulate fire." With a 'click' his lighter opened and the flame rose a foot in the air before disappearing.

"This is Kitty. Codename Shadowcat."

The small brown haired girl smiled and her dark brown eyes shone. "I can phase through things. Can take things with me as well now. Learnt how to do that last year."

Bobby saw Rogue frown slightly at the impossibility of it, until Kitty stood up and walked through Pyro to come and stand in front of her. "It's not one of the most impressive mutations around, yet it comes in handy, especially when spying, and getting alcohol from the store room in the basement, no lock or key can keep me out!" She said with a manic grin.

OOOOOO

Hannah shifted around slightly under the water, grinning as she heard all her friends' introductions. She wondered when she should make her entrance; she wanted it to be grand. Yet she decided that waiting to shock the new girl would be more fun the longer she waited. For she was the only one of her friends that did not look human.

OOOOOO

"Ah really can't believe that Ah'm to stay here." Rouge said, and in truth it really had not sunk in yet, that she would be staying with people just like her. She was shown her room earlier and knew that she was to be staying with Jubilee and Kitty, both of which looked to be great fun, yet she also noticed that there was another bed in the room. If she was only to stay with people her own age who was the other girl.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool here once you settle in. I don't think it will take you long." Bobby said.

"You mentioned a girl called Hannah. Does she stay here as well?" Rouge asked.

"There should be one more of us. In fact she should have been in American History, yet it never was her strong point. Come to think of it, it is time for her to make her entrance." Kitty said as she looked over at the fountain.

OOOOOO

Hannah shifted in vague irritation, damn, she had been spotted. Realising that now was as good a time as any she sat up and shook the water over her, and looked mildly affronted when Rogue squeaked and instinctively hid behind Bobby.

"There is no need to hide, you aren't that ugly." The blue girl said with a grin standing up.

OOOOOO

"Now then Rogue, this is the elusive Hannah, despite appearances she really isn't all that scary." Bobby said trying to coax the girl out from behind him.

Rogue finally looked around his shoulder somewhat sheepishly and took a proper look at the girl in front of her, even as she had walked through the school she had only seen mutants that looked like humans, never had she seen one that looked different. She did not care if she was staring but she could not help it as she took in everything in front of her.

Hannah turned round and let Rogue get a good look at her. Her light blue shin shone softly with water and her yellow fish like eyes sparkled with mirth. Fins stood out from the side of her legs and arms, green seaweed coloured hair draped down her back. Slits under her jaw marked her gills and she absently scratched the webbing between a finger. Water dripped down her front as she saw Rogue go red at her lack of clothes. It was not like she could get much to fit her, the fins on her arms and legs prevented most types of clothes. Gloves and shoes were out of the question due to her webbed hands and feet. In fact the only things she was wearing was an ugly metal collar that surrounded her neck and identical bracelets that joined to the collar with thick chains.

"You finished staring yet? Only I'm getting bored."


	8. Gulo Gulo

Disclaimer: The X-men are property of Twentieth Century Fox and the Marvel Entertainment Group. I am using their characters for my own un-profitable enjoyment. Anything that you do not recognise is my own.

Authors Note: Hey. Not a great deal to say, other than the fact I'm going back to Uni in a few weeks, getting quite excited again! Need a wireless card for my laptop otherwise I won't be able to do my favourite time wasting pastime, surfing the net. Anyway. Have fun reading.

**Chapter 7: _Gulo gulo_**

Hannah, eventually bored with being stared at, stepped over the small wall of the fountain and onto the dry grass. Her toes involuntarily crinkled up at the feeling before she straightened them out. She walked up to the new girl and held her hand out in front of her.

"Good to meet you, I'm Hannah." She said grasping the gloved hand of the girl in front of her.

"Marie. Your accent is so different." She said dropping the webbed hand.

Hannah turned around ignoring the question for a minute and went to sit next to Pyro. She looked pointedly at the boy who had sprawled out over the wooden bench, she promptly turned to sit down whether he was under her or not. Luckily he had grunted and moved up allowing her room.

"Hate to break it to you, but I don't have an accent." Hannah said looking up at the new girl.

Rogue cocked her head in slight bewilderment, obviously disagreeing with the statement.

"You're the one with the funny accent. We both speak English as our first language, except I'm from England and you're from America, Mississippi to be precise. So, because I am from the country where the language originated, I'm speaking it normally and you have the squiffy accent." Hannah said her reasoning perfectly understandable in her mind.

Rouge just nodded vaguely not entirely sure at what had just happened. Eventually she just shook her head and mumbled. "Okay."

"So what's your mutation?" Hannah asked.

"Why do you ask if you already know?" Jubilee asked looking at her friend.

"I prefer to be told." She said looking away from the yellow girl and towards Rogue. Her ability to know things about people, still unsettled her friends, even now.

"Ah can absorb a person's life force though my skin." The girl said looking down at her gloves.

"Interesting."

"What's so interesting about it? All Ah can do is comatose people!" Rouge said looking up slightly angry at the other girl.

"Keep your hair on. I suppose that means you can absorb a mutant's powers as well." Hannah said looking thoughtful.

"Ah can?"

"Course you can. Really, people should learn more about their own mutations." Hannah said rolling her yellow eyes. "Ask the Professor to help you control your mutation; we don't want another Cody happening do we?"

"How'd you know about him?" Rouge asked her eyes widening.

"So, you got a mutant name?" Hannah asked, ignoring the last question completely and the stares of her friends.

"Rouge. What's yours?"

"I have no right to my mutant name at the moment. Only those that acknowledge and use their powers have a right to use their mutant name." Hannah said.

The rest of her friends looked at each other in confusion, they knew she had secrets yet never had she mentioned her lack of mutant name before.

Rouge was oblivious to the looks of the teenagers around her. "Why can't you use your mutant name? You were using your gills earlier."

Hannah did not respond, instead she looked up and her yellow eyes frosted over. She snarled, her usual open and smiling face closed, a hand reached up to the collar around her neck and gave it a sharp tug.

OOOOOO

Charles picked up the papers that had been placed on his desk. He stapled them together separately before flicking though them. One was written in Jubilee's neat and rounded hand, the other in a messy, yet legible, scrawl. Hannah's writing had never been that neat, the combination of being left handed, writing with a fountain pen, which smudged, and having webbed hands did not lead to immaculate scripture. Yet she had tried and that was what mattered most to the paraplegic teacher. Her work was always in on time and up to an above average standard, he could not ask for more.

He looked up at the two girls sitting in front of him and smiled. They had been the only two to choose his elective Advanced Language classes and he was looking forward to reading the reports on Tolkein they had just handed in. It was always nice to find students so enthralled in literature and to find that Hannah had such a flair for fantasy work was a surprise as well.

"Professor a _Gulo gulo_ is heading this way, he'll be through the door any minute." Hannah said.

Charles wondered for a second what she had said, then his mind clicked. It was times like these when the Professor wondered whether she did have some telepathic abilities, yet the girl had assured him that she did not contain an ounce of psionic ability. _Gulo gulo_ was the Latin binomial name for a wolverine, Logan must be awake.

Before a second had passed he felt Logan's mind as he arrived at the door and opened it. He saw both Hannah and Jubilee turn their heads to look at the man who had arrived with Rouge earlier in the day. The man was of average height and his muscles could be seen easily, even in his semi relaxed state. His eyes were steel grey and his dark hair was swept up into two distinguished 'ears'. Charles saw Jubilee's eyes widen in appreciation and wished for a second he was not telepathic.

"Jubilation Lee, you think very loudly." He said as he watched Logan edge around the room out of the corner of his eye. The Asian girl blushed and squeaked before collecting her belongings and preparing to leave.

Hannah showing her usual confidence and exuberance stood up gracefully and walked towards the man, who was looking at her suspiciously. Charles almost wanted to call her back; because he himself did not know what the man was caperbal of, yet he allowed her to walk forward.

"Hi." She said, sticking her hand forward. "I'm Hannah; do you want me to call you Logan or Wolverine?"

Charles saw the man stare at her slightly stunned at the lack of fear shown by the girl. Yet he himself was not surprised, Hannah was incredibly open and forward going. To the point that she was occasionally very blunt and came across rude, yet he knew that she did not mean it.

"Neither is the name you were born with. I'll call you Logan if you don't mind." She said her hand still between them. "You do know it is considered rude not to shake someone's hand when they offer it to you."

Charles saw the slow smile creep over the face of the man as he grasped the girls hand and shook it.

"Did you know a wolverine is part of the weasel family?" She said shaking the hand and then turning it over to look at his fist.

At this point Charles was about to step in, yet the look on the man's face told him other wise. Logan was obviously intrigued with the girl in front of him and if she could put him at ease, it might make it easier for him later.

She ignored him as he tried to pull his hand out of her grasp. "You really should get those things's filed or something. They could do some damage." She prodded his knuckles where the claws protruded before dropping his hand. "Well I've got to go now before my friend over there drowns in her own pool of drool. No doubt I'll see you around."

Both men watched as she walked over to Jubilee who had been standing by the door and forcefully dragged her friend out.

"Good afternoon Logan. I'm Charles Xavier would you like some dinner?" He said as he watched the man before him turn away from the door and look towards him.

"Where am I?"

"Westchester, New York. You're in my school for the gifted, for mutants."

Logan nodded, that would explain the blue fish girl.

"That girl. Is she always like that?" He said.

"Hannah? Oh yes, a very bright girl, she has a bit too much confidence at times, yet she is not arrogant." Charles said.

"My people brought you here for medical attention." Charles said wheeling himself closer to the man.

"I don't need medical attention." Logan said taking a step closer to the door.

"So we found out."

"Where's the girl?"

"Rouge? She's here, she's fine. I believe that she was quite intrigued with Hannah, but then most people are." Charles said as the door opened and three people walked in. He noticed that Logan did not jump at the sudden noise and wondered about the depth of his mutation. "Ah Logan I'd like you to meet Ororo Munroe also called Storm and this is Scott Summers."

Charles noticed that Logan did not take the hand offered to him by Scott, he was about to carry on with the introductions when Scott spoke up.

"I believe you have met Hannah, I saw her coming out of here. She believes it very rude if you do not shake a person's hand when it is offered." Scott said as if he was talking to a three year old. He winced as Logan's hand grabbed his and shook it roughly. "Thank you." He said trying to disguise the pain in his voice.

The Professor decided to ignore the comment and carry on. "I believe you've already met Dr Jean Grey."

Logan looked around and wonder started to fill his eyes. "What is this place?"

Charles smiled as he wheeled himself out of the room and was followed obediently by Logan. He gave him a brief tour of the mansion whilst talking. "Amenity is a mutant's first defence against the world's hostility. To the public we are merely a school for gifted youngsters. Cyclops, Storm and Jean were some of my first students. I protected them and taught them how to control their powers and, in time, teach others to do the same. The students are mostly runaways. Frightened, alone, some with gifts so extreme they've become a danger to themselves and those around them. Like your friend Rouge, incapable of physical human contact, maybe for the rest of her like. Yet here she is with others her own age learning and being accepted."

OOOOOO

Hannah woke in the night and looked over at the new bed that had been placed in their room. It was empty and the girl's sleep filled brain registered the soft 'click' of their door closing. Sighing she shook her head before wrenching herself out of her own bed. New people often went on late night walks, yet she had a feeling her new room mate would end up in trouble by the time the sun rose.

_Here we go, Hannah to the rescue. Wish people would wander round during the day instead. Far more sociable._

She padded over to the door and opened it, not being that bothered about the noise it would make. Walking out she breathed in the air, someone had left a window open and the scent of pine needles filled her nose. Looking down the corridor she saw Rouge heading towards the teachers rooms. She stepped into a soft jog to catch up with the mutant girl and almost cringed when she saw her go into the room which was habited by the Wolverine. This was not going to be pretty.

She could feel eyes on her as other students stuck their heads out of their doors to see what was going on, yet she threw caution to the wind when her large ears picked up the sounds of Logan's nightmares.

_Oh don't even thing about waking him!_

"Rouge." She started. But it was too late, the girl had woken him and she cringed as she saw him sit bolt up right and place his adamantium claws through her stomach. She screamed and brought the rest of the students and teachers running.

_Damn._

"Help, somebody help me." Logan said retracting his claws.

_Useless man, sit their quivering why don't you. Leave me to clear up your mess. No wonder you've got amnesia, probably your minds way of forgetting all the daft things you've done._

Hannah shook her head as she watched Rouge rock backwards and forwards, blood bubbling at her mouth. "Well what a fine mess you've got her into here. If she dies I'll make you regret your century and a half of existence." She said walking towards Rouge and pulling off one of the gloves that the girl had slept in.

Ignoring the teachers and students that had run into the room she used one of her chains the push Rouge's hand up to Logan's cheek, hitting it a bit harder than necessary. Making sure that their skin did not touch in the process. "Really girly, he has healing powers and you can take his life force. Go on, suck him up."

She took a step back as she saw Logan's face begin to screw up in pain and the wounds on Rouge's stomach heal. Logan collapsed back onto his bed convulsing slightly whilst Rouge's legs buckled, she was caught before she hit the floor by Piotr who had run through the door.

She turned to look at the audience who were staring at her in silence. "What?"


	9. Yin and Yang

Disclaimer: The X-men are property of Twentieth Century Fox and the Marvel Entertainment Group. I am using their characters for my own un-profitable enjoyment. Anything that you do not recognise is my own.

Authors Note: Heya. Sorry for the slow update. Having a few internet problems in our house. The silly people from Telewest decided not to tell us that they had locked our modem to stop us from using it. (yeah we got the modem hooked up so we could look at it – note the sarcasm). Anyway here is two chapters to keep you going for a while.

**Chapter 8: Yin and Yang**

Hannah sat back into the large chair, the soft leather moulding to the shape of her body. She placed her elbows on the armrests and linked her fingers in front of her, the chains clinking ever so slightly. It was seven o'clock in the morning and she was sitting in Xavier's office. She had expected the summons of course, yet after last night she would have liked to spend an extra few hours in bed. She looked around the empty room and wondered where he had gotten to, taking the chance she sat up and crossed to his desk and searched for hers and Jubilee's papers. Not wanting to go in the draws of the large mahogany desk she hoped that they had been left on the desk after marking.

After a couple of seconds of rummaging she found what she was looking for and quickly flicked to the last pages of the two reports. A large circled 'A' adorned both papers and a grin spread across her face as she placed them down. Not a second too soon as she heard the door creak open as she practically flew back into the seat. She crossed her legs as the Professor wheeled his way behind the desk and shifted slightly to settle her fins more comfortably.

"Good morning Professor." She said politely.

"Yes, good morning Hannah. I am getting straight to the point. What happened last night?"

Hannah mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'so much for small talk' before starting. "I woke up and heard Rouge leave the room, I followed her. She woke Logan up, who skewered her, I made her use her mutation to save her life. That's it." She said shrugging her shoulders and hoping that that would satisfy the teacher.

Apparently not.

"How did you know it would work?"

"Because she absorbs a person's life force and so, in the case of a mutant, borrows their mutation for a while."

She watched the Professor drum his fingers together for a second and her stomach rumbled as the smell of eggs wafted into the room.

"How did you know Logan's mutation?"

_Damn._

So far, during her stay in the mansion, she had managed to keep her abilities somewhat in check. Only her friends really knew about her ability to know things about a person. She thought quickly. "Well those claws of his would cause him serious damage unless he could heal the wounds in his knuckles fast."

Her explanation apparently was not as impressive as she thought as the Professor just looked at her. "And how after seeing him just walk through a door yesterday did you know he had claws? And why did you guess his age at a century and a half?"

_Bugger._

"Professor Xavier, there are certain things about me which are better left unspoken. I cannot tell you these things. I'm sorry. Call it intuition if you will, I see a person and I know things about them." She said looking down and unconsciously swinging the shackle around her wrist.

"All right, you may go now. Thank you for saving Rouge's life, I'm sure she and Logan are waiting to thank you." He said, indicating that they were not done talking.

Hannah nodded and stood up.

OOOOOO

"What did you do to me!"

"Whoa. Calm down their Rougey." Hannah said as she was slammed into a wall by a growling Rouge. "The Wolverine in you is packing quite a punch. You could hurt someone."

Rouge dropped her hands and shrank in on herself. Tears gathered in her eyes as she looked to the ground as her hands trembled. "What have you done to me? Ever since I touched Logan I can feel him in me, not only that, but I can feel Cody in there as well now."

Hannah looked at the girl in front of her curiously. "You can feel them inside you? How?" She said before taking a gloved hand and leading the distraught girl towards the empty kitchen.

"They are talking in my head and Logan keeps trying to take control. I'm sorry I pushed you into the wall. I just don't know what to do." She said helplessly.

"No worries." Hannah said pushing the girl down into a seat and tossing her a can of Fanta from the fridge. She noticed Rouge sit astride and place her elbows on the table, a very Loganish stance. She settled herself on one of the stools and watched her carefully.

_Curious._

"I am thankful that you saved me last night. I just want to know at what cost and the Professor told me to speak with you. Said you knew things about people." She said opening the can of fizzy orange and taking a swig.

The blue girl nodded to herself before looking at the girl opposite her straight in the eyes. She saw a flash of appreciation which she guessed belonged to Logan and wondered what other parts of his personality she had picked up. A pensive expression crossed her blue face as she absently drummed her webbed fingers against the table. Her head cocked to the side as she observed the girl in front of her more closely and she noticed a slow leer appear on the girls face.

_I wonder. Well no harm in trying._

She raised herself smoothly from the chair before heading to the door. "Give me two seconds."

She walked out of the room and into the TV room down the hall. Her eyes stopped on a small boy in the corner reading a book whilst his friend tried to get him to watch TV. "Elixir. Would you come with me for a second?"

The boy looked up from his book and cocked his head in response to the voice. He nodded and shrugged apologetically at his friend before placing a marker in his book. Placing it carefully back on the shelf he walked up to Hannah. His golden hair fell behind his ears as he looked up at the taller mutant with questioning eyes.

"I may need your gift. If you don't mind." Hannah said placing a hand on his shoulder.

The gold haired boy shrugged the hand off his shoulder and walked out of the room showing his approval.

Returning to the kitchen Hannah picked up a sharp knife from the stand and placed it on the table in front of Rouge. She sat down and gestured for the boy to do the same.

"Rouge, this is Elixir, I don't think you've been introduced properly yet. He won't speak to you. He's being silent hoping that his protesting will get new nets for the football, sorry soccer, pitch. After three days it's still not working." Hannah said indicating to the small boy who nodded and smiled at the other girl.

"I want to try something to see how much of Logan is actually inside you. He's here if all goes wrong."

"What are you going to do with me?" Rouge said pushing her chair back slightly and her eyes staring fearfully at the blade that had been placed in front of her.

"Nothing life threatening, that's why Elixir is here. He can heal people without touching them, look." She picked up the knife and drew it over the back of her hand drawing distinctly silvery blood. She looked at the boy who simply placed a hand over the wound, it healed without scaring.

"See, no harm done. You are displaying characteristics that are very Logan at the moment and I am just wondering if that means that you can still use his healing power. All I want you to do is concentrate very hard on the Logan in your head as I make the cut." Hannah said rolling down Rouge's gloves so that she could get to her arm.

Rouge nodded fearfully as she felt Hannah take her hand and press the blade against the bare skin of her arm. She looked towards the small boy for reassurance; if he could heal Hannah that quick surely he could heal her as well. She thought of the Logan in her head as she felt the blade getting drawn over her skin. The sharp sensation of the blade cutting into her skin made her flinch, yet she felt a strong hand keeping her still. She thought back to the night before and how the healing had felt and what she felt like when she was using it. Time seemed to slow as she thought about nothing bar the image of Logan.

"Thank you Elixir. Your services are no longer needed."

Rouge's eyes snapped open and she looked at her arm, smooth unblemished skin stared back at her. She ran her hand over where the cut should have been before looking up at Hannah.

"That's a very powerful mutation you have there."

OOOOOO

Storm looked over the students in front of her. They were all sitting with notebooks and files on their laps looking back at her expectantly. She did not usually take the Mutant Studies class yet Professor Xavier said he had some business to attend to so she had been drafted in. According to the comprehensive notes left taped to the desk by the Professor today they were going to be studying forces.

_The most feared and revered things in the mutant world._

She remembered a time when the Professor and Hank McCoy had taught her, Jean and Scott about the two predominant forces in the world. It had been one of her favourite topics and she was looking forward to teaching it. Judging by the expectant looks on the teenagers faces they were looking forward to it as well.

She stood up and walked to the small black board at the side of the desk and picked up a piece of chalk. Writing the title 'Supernatural Forces' she looked back at the class and indicated that they should write that as their title. Instantly pens touched pads as they wrote and underlined their title.

"Can anyone tell me anything about the supernatural forces in our world?" She said placing down the chalk and sitting on the desk.

A blue hand raised and Storm had to hide her shock at seeing Hannah actually offering a statement in class.

_Odd_

Not wishing to pass the opportunity she indicated that the young mutant should speak.

"There are two supernatural forces in our world. They are forces that govern our way of life, and should they take up residence in a person could change the world. They are the highest step of mutation and not even Omega level, or Level five mutants can challenge them." Hannah said yellow eyes looking bored.

"Very good. Please copy this down. Everything in this world has its opposite. Light and dark. Male and female. Good and bad. Sun and the moon. Taking things further every living particle on this earth has its opposite in the form of anti matter. Everyone here has their opposite or anti-them. Separately we co-exist; if we came together we would destroy one another. This is the driving force of the two supernatural forces." Storm said and watched as pens eagerly scratched across paper. "Can anyone tell me anything else?"

Surprise again as Hannah's hand went lazily into the air. "The two forces work with each other and against each other, like the yin yang symbol. There is light in the dark and dark in the light that is what makes these two forces unstable and unpredictable. When one of these forces settles into a mutant body the person normally loses control and the force will take over. Most of these 'hosts' have died in the attempt to control their new power, they simply burnt themselves out."

"Hannah is right. These two forces are completely unstable it took all of the Professors mind power to contain the last out break of one of the forces twenty years ago." Storm stalled for a second as she noticed Hannah snarl out of the corner of her eye. "Now then, can anyone tell me the names of these two forces?"

Storm turned to Hannah as the girl did not even bother to raise her hand before she started talking. As Hannah started speaking she noticed that the girl did not appear to be paying attention to what she was saying, instead she was focused on writing something down.

"One is of fire and purely psionic, the other is of water and purely physical. Both equally powerful in strength and mind, the Phoenix and the Hydra will battle and unite till the end of time." Then she shook her head as if to rid her self of something before staring at Storm again, with her usual open expression.

"Well done Hannah. Read chapter five of your text books before next week. Class dismissed."

There were the usual sounds of chatter and chairs scraping back as the students left and walked out of the door. Soon she was left in silence.

_How did she know all that about the forces? And that look on her face, what did that mean?_

It was times like this when Storm realised how little anyone knew about the blue girl with gills and the thought scared her. She noticed a piece of paper on the desk that Hannah had been sitting at, she walked over and picked it up. As she got to the bin she curiously turned it over. Her eyes widened as she scanned the papers contents.

_I do not believe it. I will not believe it._

Storm folded up the A4 sheet and placed it in the back pocket of her jeans to keep it safe.

_No one shall ever know._


	10. Dysfunctional Families

Disclaimer: The X-men are property of Twentieth Century Fox and the Marvel Entertainment Group. I am using their characters for my own un-profitable enjoyment. Anything that you do not recognise is my own.

Authors Note: Hey. I'm taking a few artistic liberties with the story here such as the idea of forces. But seeing as it's a fan fiction I really don't care!

**Chapter 9: Dysfunctional Families**

After the lesson Hannah had made a beeline for the large swimming pool in the grounds. Dropping her files on the grass she dived into the pool making hardly a splash. Her gills opened and water flowed through them allowing her to take in oxygen. Webbed feet propelled her easily through the water, she thought back to when she first gained her mutation and the speed that she could swim then. Ever since the chains had been clapped on her she had been unable to swim at her original speeds, yet there was nothing she could do about it now. She had lost so much since the chains had bound her, yet one day she would be free. She came to the surface and started swimming lengths in a perfect front crawl, slicing and efficiently through the water.

Finishing her length she dived down to the bottom again and started swimming lazy patterns, she prepared to break the surface when she felt the water temperature drop significantly. Looking to the surface she saw a faint sheen of ice start to cover the pool. She swum quickly to the surface and dived out onto the side before she was trapped.

"You could have just called my name!" She said as she stood up and looked pointedly at Bobby.

"I have been calling your name. You haven't been listening." Bobby said.

"Well I don't appreciate being turned into a human ice pop!"

"Ice pop?"

"Popsicle then. Had that ice got into my gills I would be done for!" Hannah said stalking towards him.

"I was only going to freeze the surface. Anyway I wanted to talk to you." Bobby said.

Hannah made a disgruntled noise before collapsing on the grass, obviously upset that her swimming session had come to an end. "Well be out with it then Mr. Frosty."

Bobby did not comment about the name given to him, he just sat down next to her. "Rouge's gone. We were meant to meet for dinner. Yet after the lesson she just vanished."

"Its dinner time all ready?"

"I think you are missing the point. Rouge's gone." Bobby said, wondering if his friend truly cared about anything beyond herself.

She seemed to pick up on his thoughts however and scowled at him. "You know damn well what I care about. Rouge is safe, she is at the train station and Logan is with her."

"Thanks that's all I wanted to know. If you are so dead set on the world being free. Why don't you do something about it? Rather than sitting here pottering around, so you freed a couple of whales, what about the whole of mutant kind?" Bobby retorted.

"What do you think I'm trying to do? I can do nothing whilst I'm clapped up in chains. As soon as I'm free, I will free the rest of man kind, humans as well as mutants."

"What are you some kind of martyr? There are far more powerful mutants than you in the world. How is having gills going to save the world? What are you going to do revive Atlantis?"

"Just bugger off Bobby, before you say something you'll regret even more. Don't worry about Rouge, the X-men have gone after her." Hannah said wanting to be rid of the hormonal teenage boy sitting next to her.

Bobby got up and turned to leave. He made it a few steps before whipping round to face her again. "And how do you know this stuff? How do you know exactly what is happening when no one tells you?"

Hannah stood gracefully and faced Bobby, they stood eye to eye and she stared him down. "Because I do. I know that your parents think that this is a prep school and you are a good little _Homo Sapien_. They don't know you are a mutant do they? What do you think they'll do when they find out?" She said deliberately baiting him now.

"Well at least I did not run away from my parents. Were they that bad that you even had to leave the country?" Bobby said getting more and more worked up.

"My parents tried to kill me. When I was eleven and my mutation kicked in I walked downstairs into the kitchen. All I wanted was a hug, someone to tell me it was all right and shall I tell you what they did? My mother screamed at the sight of me and held me down while my father approached my with a carving knife. Luckily my mutation allowed me to escape. Don't ever speak to me of dysfunctional families. At least there is still a possibility of your parents loving you when they find out."

Bobby backed away slowly, placing his hands out in front of him. He walked backwards all the way to the mansion, his eyes located on the swimming pool that had once been frozen over. Now steam bubbled and hissed from it.

OOOOOO

It was nearing nightfall the following night that Bobby approached Hannah. She was sat with Kitty and Jubilee in the corner of the large Common room and they were talking quietly. John and Piotr were playing table football unenthusiastically; they looked up as they heard the Iceman enter. They had all been subdued as the X-men had returned to the mansion empty handed the night before; Rouge was still out there somewhere. Although she had only been there a couple of days, friends were easily made among so-called outcasts of society.

The argument the day before had been heard by pretty much everyone in the school, as it had been just after dinner and many people were lounging on benches outside. People were in shock at the thought of Hannah's parents trying to kill her. Sure many of them were outcasts and made to runaway, yet none of them ran away because they feared for their life. The idea of parents killing their eleven year old daughter was unthinkable.

The swimming pool had been assessed afterwards as well; the steaming had caused no permanent damage it just needed to be filled up a bit more. This was a revelation though, as no one knew that Hannah had any other mutations other than her physical ones. The steam definitely was not Bobby's doing and so it had to have been Hannah. Most people brushed it off saying that it was an odd occurrence because she was angry. Yet whispers were still filling the halls.

OOOOOO

Hannah knew very well what people were saying about her. It did not bother her in the slightest.

_Let them talk. I daresay they have nothing else to do with their time. We'll show them all won't we my precious. _

She shook her head to get the odd thought out of her brain.

_That is it. I'm having a break from writing that damn Lord of the Rings Fan fiction for a while! The blasted thing is frazzling my brain!_

She looked up at the blonde haired boy who had walked up to her. "Yes."

"I came to say I'm sorry. I should never have got so worked up last night. It wasn't your fault. I just took it out on you. The thought that your parents nearly killed you because you are a mutant is horrific. I am so sorry." He said looking away from her gaze.

Hannah nodded and stood up to face him properly.

"It's just that your ability to know things unnerves people. Plus you have been one of my best friends now for over a year, yet I still know near to nothing about you." He said shrugging his shoulders.

"I know. There are things that I can't physically tell you. I want to, hell I want to so much, but I can't physically do it! I swear as soon as I can I'll tell you everything, we can have a big 'ask Hannah questions session' with pizza and ice cream. We can all sit down and you can ask me what ever you want. At the moment though it just is not possible." She said. "Just trust me for a little bit longer. As soon as I find Magneto we'll arrange it. Okay?"

_Hopefully that should be within the next couple of hours._

Bobby nodded and wrapped his arms around the blue girl as she stepped closer to hug him. They stayed there for a while before breaking apart and smiling at each other. The whole roomed breathed a sigh of relief as the two made up. Arguments among mutants often turned nasty.

OOOOOO

Hannah was sat on the balcony of one of the second floor classrooms as she noticed four of the X-men run past her into the subterranean levels. She observed them for a second before her eyes widened, jumping up she ran to the nearest elevator and hit the 'down' arrow quickly, making sure to take the air freshener from the classroom. Arriving in the lower levels she peaked her head around the door and saw them kitting up. A quick look left showed her that the hanger door was open and the jet was online. Taking a chance she waited until Logan was pulling his hoodie over his head before making a break for the door. She prayed that his sense of smell would be muffled whilst the material was over his head, judging by the lack of thundering footsteps she was right.

Once in the hanger she quickly ran to the front of the jet and sprayed the air freshener around before chucking it hastily under one of the seats. Looking around she ran to the back and lifted up one of the galley seats and hid in the under seat compartment. Shutting the lid just as the X-men came running up the ramp to the jet.

As predicted the Wolverine's nose twitched madly and luckily it disguised her scent. She was hunched over in a crouch yet she could still here clearly enough what was happening.

"You go out in these things?" Came Logan's disgruntled voice.

"What would you prefer? Yellow spandex?" Came a very sarcastic response from Scott. The tension between the two was hilarious.

It was nearing the end of the flight that things started to go wrong for Hannah. Her position was not all that comfortable and one of the fins on her leg was trapped, not painfully, but it was uncomfortable. Adding to that the way in which she was squashed in her chains were digging painfully into her arms and chest. She bore this silently though, knowing that she would be free soon.

Then Logan had reached down to scratch his leg and found the can of air freshener. Her chest clenched as she heard his voice.

"Be alert, I think we have a stowaway on board."

Then to top it off Scott landed the jet, well landing was not quite the word. He shut the engine down when they were still a few feet above the water, making the jet fall before crashing into the harbour. This was when Hannah decided that a seatbelt would have been a good investment in her hideaway. Her head cracked painfully against the seat above her. Although she did not utter a sound, her eyes crossed in pain.

Logan heard the crack and after cursing Scott for his poor landing he went to investigate. Well this is what Hannah presumed as less than a minute later light flooded over her. She looked up sheepishly at the form of the large man above her.

"I was looking for my pen?"


	11. Hair Line Crack

Disclaimer: The X-men are property of Twentieth Century Fox and the Marvel Entertainment Group. I am using their characters for my own un-profitable enjoyment. Anything that you do not recognise is my own.

Authors Note: Yeah I suck I know!

**Chapter 10: Hair line crack**

Logan growled as he saw the hunched over form of the girl hiding beneath a seat. He reached down roughly and grabbed the back of her neck lifting her out effortlessly. He ignored the other X-men as they ran up behind him.

"Lost your pen kid? Even I can think of a better excuse than that." He said still holding her off the ground.

"Would you please put me down you are hurting my gills." She said glaring at him.

"Put her down Logan." Jean said coming up behind him.

His nostrils instantly flared at the warm scent coming from the red haired woman. He obliged and lowered the blue girl down to the floor. Once he let go of her she reached up and rubbed her gill covers.

"Hannah why are you here?" Storm asked from behind Logan.

"You are going to rescue Rouge aren't you? Magneto has her, I need to find him. I can help you; I promise I won't be any trouble." She said.

"No, you are staying here. You should not even be away from the mansion." Said Jean.

Logan nodded before turning to the other side of the jet. He looked back to make sure that the other three X-men still had the girl surrounded before he went back to what he was looking for.

"You can't keep me there. I could leave whenever I want. My free will is my own and you cannot change that Birdie." She said glaring at Jean.

Storm's eyes widened for a second as she heard what Hannah called Jean, and her hand went to the pocket that she had placed the piece of paper in. It went with her everywhere, she did not trust to leave it around.

Logan returned and threw a loop of rope over the girl's neck, it settled round her chest, squashing her arms to her sides. He tied it quickly before pulling her sharply into one of the main seats. He wrapped the rope tightly around her and the chair making sure that she was completely bound. He tried to ignore the flailing punches and kicks that connected with him, as he did not want to admit that some of them hurt. The girl was stronger than she looked. When she was tied up he looked back at the other three stunned X-men.

"Let's go."

"Don't leave me here, please don't leave me here." Came Hannah's voice and they all looked at her, writhing against the strong rope bonds.

"It's for your own good; we don't want you to get hurt." Storm said approaching the girl.

Hannah's eyes darkened as she stopped writhing and stared straight at them. "My own good? You know nothing of my own good. You say you want to stop me getting hurt yet you tie me to a chair, the bonds so fight I can feel them cutting into me."

Outside storm clouds rolled in and thunder boomed ominously. The jet started rocking as the waves picked up height and battered against the side.

"Storm is that you?" Scott said looking warily at the white haired lady.

"No."

They all turned their attention back on the girl their eyes were all drawn to her collar and chains that were glowing slightly. Then as a particularly bad wave hit the side of the jet making all of them stumble they saw a small hair line crack appear in the collar around her neck.

"Come on she is fine here. We need to find Rouge." Logan said moving uncertainly towards the steps.

The rest of the X-men gave a backwards glance at the girl who was now slumped in the ropes with a dejected look on her face. The waves had stopped battering the jet and the thunder had stopped, all appeared to be quiet outside. Taking their chance they ran towards the Statue of Liberty.

OOOOOO

Hannah sat there staring out the large windshield in front of her; a snarl was etched on her usual smiling face. She watched the scene unfold in front of her and wanted to laugh at the stupidity of the X-men, running straight towards Magneto whilst inside a large copper dome. Really even she knew enough about science to tell it was a daft move.

Still her breath did catch in her throat as she saw Logan get flown up to Rouge. Well she presumed it was Logan, it was rather hard to tell through the fog that Storm had created. Obviously he had more trust in Jean and Storm's power than she did. There was no way she was going to rely on another mutants powers if her feet were off the ground!

All the X-men vanished and it was a while before she heard the hatch to the Jet open. She tried to look round to see what was happening but the angle of the chair and the tight ropes prevented her. Instead she coughed rather loudly to get their attention. When no one came she sighed.

"Oi! You going to untie me now or what? I can't feel my feet!"

A couple of seconds later and a person moved into her line of sight. She looked up at the worn figure of Rouge and smiled gently. The girl's eyes were still wide with fear and her hands trembled as she undid the knots. Hannah stayed silent as she watched Rouge gently unwind the rope from around her and the chair and coil it up neatly again.

"Thanks." Hannah said, looking at the girl carefully.

She watched as Rouge nodded and walked quickly to the back of the jet and sat down next to the prone form of Logan.

The blue girl stood gingerly up from the chair and placed her hands on the control panel in front of her to get her balance on her dead legs. Wincing she stood up slowly and sighed in relief as every vertebrate in her back clicked. She slowly straightened each arm and smiled as they clicked as well. The loud popping finally brought her to the attention of the X-men who were hastily patching up the bleeding mutant.

"You try being tied to a chair for an hour and not have stiff joints." She said as she slowly took a step forward testing the weight on her legs before lifting the other foot up. "Err; the pigs are here I think we better be going."

OOOOOO

Jean looked up at the girl who was slowly making her way towards them. She winced as she saw the way she was walking and the deep groves in her skin where the ropes had been bound.

"Pigs?" She asked.

"The cops are coming and they are looking at us very suspiciously." She said finally making it to Logan and pacing around next to him to get the feeling back into her limbs.

"Storm, get the jet online. I'll be there in a second." Scott said as he quickly wrapped a bandage around one of Logan's arms.

Jean watched absentmindedly as Storm ran to the front of the jet, all she was interested in was stemming the large amount of bleeding coming from the man in front of her. She almost did not register Scott telling her to sit down and strap up.

"Hannah sit down!" Scott said as the jet started to move slowly.

"To hell with you if you think I'm sitting down again!" Came Hannah's reply.

Jean gripped the seat as the jet moved suddenly throwing Hannah to the floor with a thump.

"That's better." Scott said as the jet rose quickly.

Once the jet was up and cruising quickly through the air Jean turned her attention to the two younger mutants next to her. Rouge was rocking back wards and forwards with her arms wrapped around her chest.

"Rouge it'll be alright. He'll heal, like he always does." Jean said.

"There's no point trying to talk to her for a while. She's just absorbed Magneto as well as Logan; no doubt the two personalities are fighting it out in her head. Give her a couple of hours before she is coherent again." Hannah said, stretching languidly.

"How do you know this?"

"We did an experiment the last time that Rouge absorbed Logan. If she concentrates hard enough she can still use his mutation, yet not his physical ones. So she was able to heal herself when I cut her arm."

Jean's eyes widened in surprise as she looked at the blue girl. "You cut her arm and did not tell me about it!"

"Don't worry I made sure Elixir was with us encase it didn't work."

Jean shook her head and went silent. She really did wonder how they knew so little about Hannah yet she always seemed so open. She turned her head back to the girl as another question came into her head.

"Why did you want to find Magneto so badly?"

Hannah looked directly at her, her oval pupils staring out of yellow eyes. She raised her arms slightly and shook them making her chains rattle. "Why do you think? If you knew your true power Birdie you'd want to be able use it as well. My freedom has been chained and I want it back."

OOOOOO

It was not until the next day that Rouge sought out Hannah. The blue girl was not in their room, or by the pool and she was on the verge of giving up her search when she heard Kitty and Jubilee giggling about seeing Hannah and Pyro together.

"Have you two seen Hannah?" Rouge asked approaching the two girls in the kitchen.

"Yeah. She's with John in the TV room. They look very cosy together." Kitty said.

"She swears there is nothing going on; the girl's got issues if you ask me. He obviously wants her!" Jubilee said.

Rouge just nodded and walked towards the TV room set on finding the girl with gills. As she walked in, she saw why her two room mates were giggling, Hannah was curled up on the sofa with her head in Pyro's lap. He was absently stroking her hair as he flicked through the music channels.

Not really wanting to break the moment, but knowing that she had to, Rouge coughed. Two heads turned to face her slowly.

"Erm Hannah, can I speak to you?"

"Sure." She said uncoiling herself and standing up. She turned to Pyro before she walked towards Rouge. "I'll see you later."

Rouge saw Pyro nod before turning back to flick through the channels. She indicated to Hannah that they should walk; they eventually made their way back to their room not a word was spoken on the journey. Once there Rouge shut the door behind them and settled herself down onto her bed and looked around nervously.

"What did you want to talk about? I don't think you just wanted the walk." Hannah said sitting next to the girl.

"I want to know why you so desperately wanted to find Magneto, he tried to kill me!"

Hannah sighed and her hand went to the collar around her neck. "I wish I didn't have to find him. I wish that you could now use his powers and take this thing off me, but it specifically needs to be him. Whilst this thing is still on me I feel powerless, useless, and hopeless. I am strong, I know it and how would you feel if you spent the last two years clapped up in chains?"

"I would want to do everything to get rid of them as well." Rouge said looking at her hands. "I hope that the Wolverine and Magneto in my head sort it out soon. This morning I called the Professor both 'Charles' and 'Chuck' in the same conversation! It was very embarrassing."

Rouge looked up at Hannah and saw the compassion written on her face; she tensed as the blue girl reached over and grasped her gloved hand.

"Why were those chains put on you?" Rouge supposed it was a personal question yet she was curious.

Hannah sighed in resignation before balling her free hand into a fist. "Because I was deemed too powerful, too dangerous to both human and mutant kind. A bit like you I was shunned, people were afraid to come near me encase I hurt them. I promise that as soon as I get these chains off me I'll help you learn to control your mutation."

Rouge nodded before plucking up her courage to ask another question. "Why were you thought of as too powerful?"

Hannah went silent then sighed deeply before raising the hand that was not clasped in Rouge's and placed it on the Southern girl's cheek.


	12. Awe or Fear

Disclaimer: The X-men are property of Twentieth Century Fox and the Marvel Entertainment Group. I am using their characters for my own un-profitable enjoyment. Anything that you do not recognise is my own.

Authors Note: Well this is the last chapter of this story. The next one has been semi planned, not quite sure when I'll start writing it yet, but it will get done no fear!

**Chapter 11: Awe or Fear**

Rouge's mouth opened in a gasp as she felt the skin contact between them. The tough webbing of the girl's skin was alien and rough on her cheek; the chains were cold against her skin and rattled slightly. Colours filled her vision, they floated around and jumped in front of her, small balls of light, like the ones that Jubilee could create; these were far more vibrant, as if you had just placed your hands over your eyes for a long time. She closed her eyes against the onslaught of the light display, and relaxed slightly. She could still feel Hannah's hand grasped in her own and she could still feel the cool hand against her cheek. Yet now foreign emotions were flooding her, it was the same feeling she had experienced when she touched both Logan and Magneto, yet these were far more intense.

She reeled as she felt large amounts of frustration and anger wash over, harsh painful feelings that felt like open wounds. Slowly these emotions filtered passed and much happier ones took their place, feelings of pleasure, comfort and sunshine. Finally these two passed away and Rouge seemed to be standing in a large black void. She guessed that she was in Hannah's mind and only her body was sitting in their bedroom.

She braced herself as she felt another strong emotion come her way; the lash nearly knocked her over. A feeling of nothing but pure power. She smiled, there was no way she could not, a manic grin lit her face as she thought of all the things that she could accomplish now she had this power. She felt invincible and knew there was nothing that could stop her.

Rouge reached out to this power and tried to use the huge amount of mutant potential yet she felt it get wrenched away from her. She howled as the immense power carried on washing over her, yet she was unable to use it. A slow itchiness spread through her, a feeling of intense pressure and tension as she kept reaching out to the power that was rushing past her. She was so caught up in this that she did not notice the other presence standing in the void with her.

"It's hard isn't it? To stand there and feel the power rushing past you, trickling through your fingers, like the golden sand from a beach. Of course sand can't trickle through my fingers, webbing does stop that, but I remember what it used to feel like."

Rouge whipped around to face Hannah. The girl was stood there, yet occasionally her form would flicker and her body would change, yet it would always turn back.

"Is this what it is like for you?"

"Every second of every minute of every day. For the past two years I've been trembling, itching and screaming with a mutation that I cannot use. I've learnt to block it to an extent now."

"How come I cannot use your mutation?"

"You cannot use a physical mutation only one that has no outward physical signs. These chains that are on me suppress half of my mutant gene, not the physical half, the other half, making it impossible to utilise."

Rouge nodded still feeling lost at her inability to use the, apparently, immense power washing around her. She looked at the flickering forms of Hannah a lot more closely and although she spent most time looking like she normally did, when she flickered the chains around her disappeared. Rouge assumed that this is what she must look like when free of chains.

"As much as I love having you in my mind, I think it is time for us to go."

Rouge nodded as she distantly felt Hannah take her hand off her cheek. As she faded out of the void something reared up amongst the feeling of power and her eyes widened.

When she came back to her body her eyes were still wide and unblinking. She stared at Hannah in shock and felt herself slowly lean back away from the girl.

"The same prejudice haunts you I see. That was the reason I was clapped up in chains. Tell me, should a person be clapped up in chains and punished for something that they cannot control. Should a blind man be put behind bars because he cannot see? Should a deaf person be barred from concerts because he cannot hear? No. I could not control this and so I should not be punished for it." Hannah said looking intently at the other girl.

Rouge sighed and straightened up. "No, thank you for telling me that. You had no right to be put in chains, yet fear of power always leads to irrational thinking."

Hannah smiled. "That was a very philosophical thing to say. Didn't know you had it in you."

Rouge grinned at the rebuke and realised that as long as Hannah had values what she was did not matter in the slightest. She was simply a happy girl with gills and a fanatical desire to free things.

OOOOOO

Logan twitched his nose slightly as he regained consciousness. All he could smell was a clinical cleanliness, it made his nose itch. Off to his left there was a faint smell of spring rain and dampness and he turned his head slightly in that direction before he opened his eyes.

His eyes protested at the use and felt gritty as he blinked a couple of times to get everything back into focus. His gaze settled on Hannah who was sitting cross legged on a table next to him reading a science journal. He tried to roll over and lift his arm yet his muscles felt like jelly and he ended up simply twitching.

"You might not want to try and move yet."

He looked again at Hannah and saw that she was looking at him over the top of journal. Opening his mouth he tried to talk, his tongue felt like sandpaper and he croaked instead.

"Hang on."

He saw Hannah place the journal down and pick up a glass of water; she jumped neatly off the table and walked towards him, the smell of dampness and spring mornings increasing. He could have sworn that she never used to smell like this. People did not usually change their scent and he made a point of recognising everybody's.

At the moment this did not bother him, as his mind and body was still half asleep. All he cared about was the cool water slipping down his throat as he swallowed greedily. Once he had quenched his thirst he moved his head slightly to indicate that she should stop pouring. The glass was taken away and she jumped up to sit next to him on the bed.

"I'm surprised you're awake at all to be honest. Professor Grey pumped you so full of chemicals I thought you'd be out for a week." Hannah said whilst checking under his bandages.

He squirmed slightly as her webbing ran across his chest. "Hey, that tickles."

Hannah just smirked at him and finally took all the bandages off, ripping the ones off his chest a bit too hard. He vaguely remembered someone telling him once that the faster you pulled it off the less it hurt. He was now willing to kill that person, it still hurt!

"That was for tying me to a friggin chair!"

Logan grunted as he remembered doing that. "It was for your own good."

A snort was his only response. He watched her pick up a ball of cotton wool from a bag and start to wipe away the dried blood on his arms and chest. He almost flinched as he realised it was cold and wet when he could have sworn it was dry whilst in the bag. His mind quickly flicked back to seeing her jump off the table with a glass of water, not only had the glass been empty before hand but it had not spilled when she jumped.

He pushed it to the back of his mind, far stranger things had happened in the past few days. "How's Rouge?"

"Rouge is fine, we had to put up with a few of your more charming personality traits, but we survived."

Logan raised an eyebrow.

"Well she kept calling the Professor Chuck, then Magneto would take over and call him Charles. It was really quite funny. Then she managed to drink Piotr under the table and has spent the past few days slapping and pinching Professor Grey's ass. That was funny, in fact that was bloody hilarious. She's taken to calling Professor Summer's Scooter, much to his annoyance. It has been a good three days!" Hannah said with a reminiscing look on her face. "Luckily the Magneto and Wolverine in her head have pretty much settled down now, so she's back to being Rouge."

Logan smiled.

OOOOOO

Charles smiled as he sat opposite Eric, the two had been friends now for many a year, despite their differences in the way that the relationship that human and mutants should be managed.

The plastic prison that contained Eric was stark yet functional, a prison cell was not meant to be homely anyway. At the moment they sat facing each other over a glass chess board, the game in play and the winner already singled out. Charles knew he was not going to win, he never did, but that was not the point of this particular game.

"The situation between mutants and humans is only going to get worse." Eric said breaking the silence.

"I know."

"How do you sleep at night knowing that they could come for you and your students?"

"I feel a great amount of pity for those poor souls who try and break into that school. You yourself know the damage a mutant can cause." Charles said moving his piece slowly, already seeing the trap that Eric had led him into.

"The situation is only going to get worse Charles. One side will have to give way, it will be their side. Mutants are the next step forward."

"Yes we are the next step forward, but for the time being we must co-exist like many species do before one becomes extinct."

Charles saw Eric move his final piece and knew that his chess pieces were doomed. Not bothering to try and worm his way out of it, he simply flicked over his King. It lay on its side, symbolic yet peaceful. Symbolic this war would be, peaceful it would be not.

The two friends looked up at each other and a knowing smile lit their faces. "I will win this coming war." Eric said leaning back in his seat.

"And I will always be there to oppose you. Old friend." Charles said as he wheeled himself out of the prison.

_Mutants will win Charles. Mutants will win._

OOOOOOO

Alone. She sat staring out over the grounds of Xavier's School for the Gifted. The whole school, bar her, was currently tucked up inside away from the pouring rain. Yet there she sat atop the tallest tower of the mansion.

Her legs were tucked up to her chest and she hugged her shins tightly and rested her chin on her knees. Eyes were unfocused against the darkened sky. She watched absently as the clouds swum above her, the chill in the air pebbling her skin, yet she felt no cold. Never did she feel the bite of the cold or the chill that made a person shiver and chatter.

Leaning back she rested her elbows on the roof behind her; she tipped her head back and closed her nostrils against the rain that threatened to consume her. She stayed like this for a time unknown to the mansion's inhabitants. Only when her lungs protested at the lack of oxygen did she sit forward and take breath.

Her eyes wandered down to her legs and she watched in fascinations as the water ran off her waxy skin and dripped off the fins on her calves. Slowly she brought her hand up to her collar and with a single webbed finger she traced the runes that cursed her. When her finger reached the crack she frowned, for it split a rune clearly through the centre.

Eyes focused and she stood up fluidly and revelled in the feeling of icy water sluicing off her skin. Her thoughts focused inwards, on the part of her she believed lost. She threw her mind outwards and raised her arms against the black sky.

Pain wracked her small frame and she closed her eyes against the onslaught. She screamed loudly and lightning flashed around the school. Her yell finished with the crashing of thunder and she fell to the floor spent, her eyes unfocused again.

Inside the mansion chaos ensured, taps spewed forth water and radiators boiled beyond measure. Lightning shattered windows and children huddled in fear as a primeval scream rocked the foundations.

The X-men stood together and stared out of the main door that had been blasted open. Questioning eyes turned to the dark skinned women. Clear eyes and a shake of the head was their answer.

They did not know how long they stood there staring at the sky. Slowly light began to filter through the clouds and at every window a mutant child watched as the sun burst through the darkness. A day with two sunrises offered connotations of extreme power and command, yet for what none could tell.

On the roof top she stood up again and stared at the sunrise. A tingling in her wrists caused her to wrench her sight away from the sky, two cracks had appeared one on each wrist cuff, both intersecting different runes.

A predatory smile flashed across her face, showing white teeth in humourless mirth.

"A freedom chained I may have, yet no longer will I be bound!"


End file.
